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Home » United Airlines » United Airlines To Reinstall Seats On Embraer 175 Aircraft
NewsUnited Airlines

United Airlines To Reinstall Seats On Embraer 175 Aircraft

Matthew Klint Posted onApril 28, 2021November 14, 2023 8 Comments

a plane on the runway

As United Airlines returns more mainline aircraft to service and looks to hire more pilots, it is adding more seats to the Embraer 175, its largest regional jet.

United Airlines Will Reinstall Seats On Embraer 175

Via its United Express partners, United operates a fleet of 172 76-seat regional Embraer 175 aircraft. These are operated by Mesa Airlines, Republic Airways, and SkyWest Airlines and these two-cabin aircraft have traditionally featured 12 seats in first class and 64 seats in economy class (split between 16 in United EconomyPlus with three extra inches of legroom and 48 in United Economy).

During the pandemic, United ripped out six seats from its fleet of Embraer 175s. This was not for social distancing. Rather, it was to be in compliance with its contract with mainline pilots.

Under its contract with the Air Line Pilots Association International (ALPA), the union representing United pilots, United is required to remove seats from its larger regional jets if it furloughs pilots hired before the contract was signed.

United’s so-called “scope clause” agreement with its pilots limits the number of seats on regional jets in proportion to mainline jets. Mainline pilot unions have alway been concerned that United will slowly try to replace its well-paid workers with an increasing number of low-paid regional jet pilots by enlarging the size of so-called “regional” jets. This became a major sticking point during the last round of contract negotiations. The problem is hardly exclusive to United.

The removal of seats was completed last October and November. Now that United has avoided pilot furloughs and restored many grounded aircraft to service, all Embraer 175s will return to 76 seats starting in May.

On some E175s United simply removed six seats in the rear of the aircraft. On others, it not only removed seats but spaced them out to add an extra row of EconomyPlus, United’s extra legroom economy class product. Until June, only 70 seats will be sold in case of last-minute equipment swaps.

CONCLUSION

With a healthy rebound in domestic travel, United is contractually able to re-add six seats to its regional jets. This process will begin next month and be completed by early June.


> Read More: Why United Airlines Is Removing Seats From Its Regional Jets


image: United

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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8 Comments

  1. Gene Reply
    April 28, 2021 at 12:59 pm

    @ Matthew — Another waste of taxpayer money,

  2. Jack Reply
    April 28, 2021 at 1:01 pm

    Removing and adding seats seems like a waste of money. Why can’t United just not sell the seats?

  3. stogieguy7 Reply
    April 28, 2021 at 1:11 pm

    Save money and leave ’em out! Seriously, when you obsess over one thing, you lose track of everything else. Like ancillary costs involved with this sort of penny pinching.

  4. Chris Reply
    April 28, 2021 at 1:13 pm

    It is contractually required. UA had to remove seats to comply with a scope clause that said if mainline flying went below X then they could only have X number of 76 seater aircraft. It is a tool for the pilots to ensure that UA doesn’t replace mainline flying with express flying.

    Gene, the money from the goverment went to pay employees, it didn’t go to other things. The loans might have but UA will have to pay that back.

  5. Chris Reply
    April 28, 2021 at 1:15 pm

    @stogieguy7

    It really isn’t that much money, just the labor to put 3 rows of seats back in. Maybe 2 or 3 hours max per aircraft and it can be done in house. Probably worth it for the extra revenue.

  6. ed lewis Reply
    April 28, 2021 at 2:20 pm

    ALPA should have never given up 50+ seating period. Surely there was a point somewhere in the “ether” that ALPA and management could agree on a wages level that makes 50-80 seats profitable. It seems a strategic error on ALPA’s part to give that flying up.

  7. Mitch Cumstein Reply
    April 28, 2021 at 2:32 pm

    Check out the guy who got kicked off a WN flight at BWI for not masking “between bites” while he was eating candy. Looks like a good story for a post.

  8. Pingback: Free Hilton Points For Listening To Telephone Sales Pitch & Your Credit Score Was Available To Anyone - View from the Wing

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