American Eagle Orders Regional Jets

American Eagle said it has ordered as many as 117 regional passenger jets worth $2.4 billion, in a move to allow the commuter airline to better feed passengers to its larger sister carrier, American Airlines. American Eagle’s move comes after an overhaul of its operations and the recent settlement of a bitter labor dispute with pilots at American Airlines, who were concerned that replacing turboprops with the new regional jets would let American Eagle take some routes now flown by the main airline. Both carriers are owned by AMR Corp. of Dallas/Fort Worth. American Eagle announced orders for 25 70-seat regional jets from Bombardier of Canada, worth $700 million, and 42 50-seat aircraft from Embraer of Brazil, also worth $700 million. It took options on another 50 jets from the companies. AMR shares rose 12.5 cents to close at $95.50 on the NYSE.