American Halts CRJ-200 Operations

American is slated to become the latest U.S. airline to remove the CRJ-200 from its regional network. On Friday, the carrier and Air Wisconsin announced plans to terminate their partnership after less than two years.

Air Wisconsin was American’s only CRJ-200 operator, serving several markets primarily from Chicago O’Hare. For the regional carrier, American was its only mainline partner.

The Appleton, Wisconsin-based airline says it will focus on charters and government-subsidized flying with its fleet of over 60 CRJ-200 jets after the contract ends in April.

Who Picks Up the Flying?

According to Cirium Fleet Analyzer data, Air Wisconsin operates around 35 CRJ-200s under the American Eagle banner at the time of writing. The aircraft have an average age of 22 years old.

Air Wisconsin largely serves markets within the Midwest and has already applied to serve Essential Air Service communities outside of its American contract.

Air Wisconsin’s January 2025 network (Photo: Cirium Diio)

The latest Cirium Diio schedule update provides some visibility on how American will backfill the flying. Per this weekend’s update, Air Wisconsin is currently scheduled to stop flying for American on April 3, 2025.

American’s final CRJ-200 flight is slated to depart Chicago O’Hare at 8:40 p.m. local time, arriving in Kalamazoo, Michigan, at 10:45 p.m. as flight 6102. Of course, this is subject to change.

As an example, the return flight from Kalamazoo on April 4 is scheduled on a Piedmont Embraer E145.

American’s regional operations from Chicago O’Hare (Photo: Cirium Diio)

American’s wholly-owned regional subsidiaries ‒ Envoy, Piedmont, and PSA ‒ are scheduled to pick up a considerable amount of flying from Chicago in the second quarter. SkyWest will also add around 73% more flights on behalf of American from its O’Hare hub.

Piedmont exclusively operates the 50-seat E145s and already flies from Chicago. Its O’Hare flying is slated to increase by 22% between Q1 and Q2.

Embraer E170 and E175 operator Envoy will also get a bump of around 41% more flights during the same period.

An Envoy Air E170 aircraft (Photo: Envoy Air)

Interestingly, American plans to return PSA to Chicago in June. The regional carrier hasn’t regularly served O’Hare since 2019.

PSA will fly a handful of routes from Chicago to Dayton, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Knoxville, Tennessee with two-class CRJ-700 aircraft.

Following the CRJ-200’s exit, American isn’t currently planning any meaningful reductions in regional capacity in 2025.

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Ryan Ewing

Ryan founded AirlineGeeks.com back in February 2013 and has amassed considerable experience in the aviation sector. His work has been featured in several publications and news outlets, including CNN, WJLA, CNET, and Business Insider. During his time in the industry, he's worked in roles pertaining to airport/airline operations while holding a B.S. in Air Transportation Management from Arizona State University along with an MBA. Ryan has experience in several facets of the industry from behind the yoke of a Cessna 172 to interviewing airline industry executives. Ryan works for AirlineGeeks' owner FLYING Media, spearheading coverage in the commercial aviation space.

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