Endeavor Air (9E, Minneapolis St. Paul International) has retired the last of its 50-seater CRJ200LRs with a final revenue flight, DL5278 from Brunswick Golden Isles to Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson, marking the end of an era for the wholly-owned Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) capacity provider.
"This aircraft truly transformed the regional industry," commented Endeavor Air Chief Executive Officer Jim Graham. "The CRJ-200s started operating Part 121 flights back in 1996, while this particular aircraft first came to us in 2004."
Following the final revenue flight under the Delta Connection brand, the 19-year-old N8918B (msn 7918) made a retirement tour from Atlanta to Endeavor Air's bases at Detroit Metropolitan and Minneapolis St. Paul International before it was ferried to Kingman on May 4 for storage.
Endeavor Air has been phasing out the 50-seater CRJ200 in line with a decision by parent Delta Air Lines in 2020 to retire the 125 CRJ200s flying as Delta Connection by the end of 2023, citing the absence of a higher-yield first-class cabin as one of the main reasons.
Other airlines have been decreasing the number of CRJ200s in service over the past decade, replacing them with dual-class 70 to 76-seater aircraft such as the CRJ700, CRJ900, and E175. United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) announced it plans to phase out its CRJ200s and E145s by 2026. However, American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) is bucking the trend and is re-introducing CRJ200s on at least ten domestic routes next year in partnership with its regional capacity provider Air Wisconsin (ZW, Appleton Outgamie County Regional) flying under the American Eagle brand.
Still, according to the US Regional Airline Association (RAA), the number of CRJ200s flown by US carriers declined by more than 60% between 2008 and 2020 as airlines increased their flying in dual-class 70 to 76-seat regional aircraft.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Endeavor Air had eleven CRJ200ERs and forty-five CRJ200LRs in its fleet.
