FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — American Airlines, fresh out ofbankruptcy and newly merged with US
Airways, said Thursday that it willbuy 90 new regional jets from Brazil’s Embraer S.A. and
Canada’sBombardier Inc. and use them to replace smaller, less fuel-efficientplanes.American senior vice
president of regional carriers KenjiHashimoto said the new planes will reduce operating costs and allow
forfirst-class cabins, economy seats with more legroom that the airlinesells for a premium and in-flight
Internet service.Financialterms were not disclosed. The Embraer planes carry a total sticker priceof about
$2.5 billion, although airlines routinely get discounts.Theairplane order was in the works long before this
week’s closure ofAmerican’s merger with US Airways, which made it the world’s biggestairline. In a
regulatory filing Thursday, the new American AirlinesGroup Inc. said that including the new Embraer and
Bombardier firmorders, it has committed $22.5 billion for new planes and engines.American’s last big order
was in 2011, for 460 planes from Boeing Co. and Airbus.Deliveriesfrom Bombardier are expected to begin next
spring, and the firstEmbraer planes are scheduled to arrive in early 2015.The airlineplaced firm orders for
60 of Embraer’s E-175 jets and 30 BombardierCRJ900 jets. It took options for another 130 planes — 90 from
Embraerand 40 from Bombardier.The 76-seat planes will replace 50-seataircraft that will be retired. Airlines
have been dumping the smallerplanes because of higher fuel prices. Larger jets let airlines spreadthe cost
of fuel across more passengers.American said that the 30Bombardier planes will go to PSA Airlines, a
regional carrier owned byUS Airways. The company said it would decide later which regionalcarrier would fly
the 60 Embraer jets.American’s longtimeregional affiliate, American Eagle, has a fleet consisting mostly
ofEmbraer planes with 37, 44 or 50 seats and some Bombardiers with about65 seats. Pilots at American had
negotiated a limit on Eagle’s use oflarger regional jets to protect their jobs, but their most
recentcontract — negotiated while American was going through bankruptcyprotection — gave the company power
to add more large regional jets.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This material may
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