<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by speechguy2:
Wondering if anyone knows when this changeover happened (it had to be in the last 6 months) and whether places like BTR will get back the full jet service? (Not holding out huge amount of hope, but...)
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I can't pinpoint the exact changeover date, but I'm pretty sure it was Feb. or March. The service was downgraded from DC9 (100 seats) on NW to ARJ (69 seats) with NW/Mesaba. In my experience, the larger planes usually went out with pretty lousy load factors. Good news (for elites at least) is that the ARJ has 16 seats in F and much better seat pitch throughout.
As of September 1, NW/Express Airlines I is adding a 50 passenger CRJ mid-afternoon from BTR-MEM.
As far as large jet service to our fair city, I'm not holding my breath. A couple of DL's flights have been downgraded to Comair CRJs and CO is VERY slow to switch those horrible ATRs to regional jets. CO is, however, adding a 737 in August or September for a morning departure to IAH and evening return.