United Airlines has partnered up with SkyWest Airlines to operate 40 Embraer jets from the regional carrier under the United Express name, according to USA Today.
The new jets will be an addition to the 30 Embraer 175 planes that United had previously announced that it would purchase and operate as United Express aircraft.
The planes are scheduled to begin operating routes sometime between 2014 and 2015.
The new planes will have larger first-class cabins and overhead bins, as well as wider fuselage, according to Alex Marren, the senior vice president of Network Operations and United Express, who provided USA Today with a written statement.
The new Embraer 175 will be the first 76-seat regional jet in the United Express fleet. The seats and aisles are wider than the ones on the regional jets that the airline currently uses. There will also be 12 seats in first class, with 16 in Economy Plus and 48 in Economy. The airline also plans to remove the less efficient aircraft from their fleet as they introduce the new planes, which consume less fuel per seat as well as emitting less carbon, according to the carrier.
"United Express is an integral part of our overall network, and enables us to bring customers from smaller cities to destinations worldwide," Marren told USA Today. "We have a longstanding partnership with SkyWest and we look forward to continuing to work together to provide a great travel experience for our customers."
SkyWest, Inc. also plans to buy 100 Embraer jets, according to the Associated Press. They will use 40 of them under the United Express name and the remaining 60 will be "considered conditional" until SkyWest enters into agreements with other major airlines to operate their planes.
In addition, SkyWest has options to buy another 100 Embraer planes. The total agreement, for 200 planes, would have a value of $8.3 billion.
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