Westjet announced Tuesday, that it would buy up to 45 Bombardier Q400 aircraft for its proposed regional air line.
The airline signed a letter of intent to buy 20 aircraft now, with options to buy another 25.
“We believe the Bombardier Q400’s combination of range, speed and seat density is the best choice to meet the needs of the market and how we plan to operate the regional airline,” said Gregg Saretsky, WestJet President and CEO.
“We look forward to working with another great Canadian company.”
Bombardier beat out stiff competition from European manufacturer ATR, which offers similar-sized planes that aren’t as fast or fly quite as far.
Westjet hopes to launch a regional airline by the middle of 2013.
The company hope to launch service to smaller cities, increase frequencies on some routes, and fly new links between destinations.
Up to now, Westjet has stuck to a strategy of using only one type of plane, the Boeing 737.
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