Mitsubishi is pressing hard to get the US regional airlines to consider its revised M100 as an alternative to the Embraer E-175 and as an option to replace Bombardier CRJ series aircraft. The US regional airlines operate in a very tight margin environment. The most recent trend is that the major carriers whom the regionals fly for will place their equipment orders and enter into operating contracts with regional carriers.
As always in fleet planning situations, the driving factors are suitability to the mission and market and economics, both capital costs and operating economics. The aircraft manufacturers know their markets well, know their competitors’ costs, and can price to the point of economic indifference. How will Mitsubishi need to price its new airliner to gain sales in the competitive marketplace?
We would expect the M100 to offer ~20% in overall savings per flight hour to drive market attention. This means Mitsubishi needs to deliver an operating cost of ~$730 per flight hour. Can they get there? It won’t be easy.
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