Envoy Air (MQ, Dallas/Fort Worth) is set to retire its ten EMB-140LRs by early May 2021 after its parent, American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth), resolved to cease using the type on its regional network.
The carrier confirmed to The Points Guy that it will retire the Embraer subfleet as of May 5, 2021.
"As we continue bringing larger regional jets into our system, the Embraer E140s are the first we are phasing out," American Airlines' Vice-President (Network Planning), Brian Znotins, said.
Although Envoy Air operates just eight active E140s for American Airlines, the aircraft fly a relatively dispersed network and are based out of Dallas/Fort Worth, New York JFK, New York La Guardia, Charlotte International, and Chicago O'Hare. While the vast majority of their operations are domestic, they are also scheduled on flights to Canada (Montréal Trudeau and Toronto Pearson from both New York bases, both due to restart in April 2021), as well as for a single scheduled flight from Dallas to Zacatecas in Mexico on April 3, 2021, the ch-aviation schedules module shows.
Envoy Air's eight active E140s are 18 years old on average and are all owned by American Airlines. They were delivered to the same carrier, then known as American Eagle Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth). The ch-aviation fleets history module shows that the type has been on its way out for some time. Envoy Air's fleet of E140s peaked at 59 units between 2003 and 2014, but has since been steadily decreasing.
Envoy Air will continue to operate fifty-seven E145s and ninety-three E175s on behalf of American Airlines. It has plans to add a further eleven E175s shortly. Besides Envoy Air, fellow American Airlines' subsidiary Piedmont Airlines (PT, Salisbury, MD) operates fifty-seven E145s on behalf of its parent. The remaining E140s are currently the smallest aircraft operated under the American Eagle partnership.
Envoy Air is one of only three remaining E140 operators in the world besides Airlink (South Africa) (4Z, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) and Key Lime Air (KG, Denver Centennial).
