Originally Posted by
Stranger
The 223 is not much smaller than the 320. Quite a bit more than the 319. OTOH the E90 was based upon a flawed business model and never really belonged. But they seem happy with the mix of CR9s and E75 for the regionals.
What was wrong with the E90? It did AC well with the 319 being way too big for a lot of the routes it was flown on, by constraining capacity and helping with yield. Wasn't reliability (at least for the first number of years) and the cost of engine overhauls on the relatively obscure CFM56 down-shrink most of the problems with that plane?
Like the 340 being replaced by the 777, better technology came along. But I think that had the E90 economics (including reliability) been better on the overall package, that it would still be a great contributor to the AC fleet. Passengers generally loved 'em.