Republic Airways Holdings Inc. is considering replacing some of the Airbus jets flown by its Frontier Airlines subsidiary with Bombardier CSeries planes now under development in Canada, according to a Canadian news report.
The Gazette newspaper of Montréal reports that Indianapolis-based Republic is eyeing Montréal-based Bombardier's CSeries 100- to 145-seater jets to possibly meet Denver-based Frontier's future needs.
The Gazette attributed the report to comments by Republic CFO Hal Cooper at an airline industry conference.
Frontier traditionally has been a mostly Airbus airline, although its Lynx short-haul subsidiary has been using some Bombardier turboprops.
But the Gazette quoted Cooper as saying that many of Frontier's 51 narrow-body Airbus A320 jets are subject to leases expiring between 2013 and 2017. Cooper said that a decision on Frontier's future needs will likely be made early next year.
The CSeries is under development and is scheduled for first delivery in late 2013.
Republic acquired Frontier in October when the Denver carrier emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It is operating Frontier as a separately branded airline.
