Bombardier CRJ-702 'N546FF' American Eagle (14192211342)

A scope clause is part of a contract between a

major airline The United States Department of Transportation defines a major carrier or major airline carrier as a U.S.-based airline that posts more than $1 billion in revenue during a fiscal year, grouped accordingly as "Group III". Airlines According to FY20 ...

and the

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

of its

pilots An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

that limit the number and size of

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

that may be flown by the airline's

regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

affiliate. The goal is to protect the union pilots' jobs at the major airline from being

outsource Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

d by limiting the regional airlines' passenger capacity. These clauses exist primarily in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Scope clauses are supported as a means of saving union jobs. Major airline pilots are usually higher paid than regional pilots. Criticism of scope clauses centers on the limits they place on the regional airlines they target. They are seen as a way of artificially maintaining the pay of major airline pilots when regional pilots will in theory fly the same-sized airplanes for less pay. Since 2012,

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...

and

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

cap their regional airlines' jets at 76 seats and a

maximum take-off weight The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft is the maximum weight at which the pilot is allowed to attempt to takeoff, take off, due to structural or other limits. The a ...

(MTOW) at 86,000 lb (39 t). The limit could not be amended through negotiations until 2019 at United and 2020 at Delta and American, limiting the sales of the new Mitsubishi SpaceJet M90 and Embraer 175-E2 to the smaller M100 and current E175. In February 2019, Bombardier launched the CRJ550, a 50-seat variant of its

CRJ700 The Bombardier CRJ700, CRJ900, and CRJ1000 are a family of regional jet airliners that were designed and manufactured by Canadian transportation conglomerate Bombardier Inc., Bombardier (formerly Canadair) between 1999 and 2020. Their design wa ...

. The reduced seating capacity and maximum takeoff weight were specifically designed to comply with scope clauses. United had been pushing to renegotiate the clauses, whereas pilots were arguing against what they see as a "flawed strategy of outsourcing". The decision to reconfigure larger existing models implies that the scope clauses remain frozen.

Impact on airlines

Scope clauses place restrictions on how many and what size of aircraft a regional airline may operate. Some

holding companies A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

operate a large number of individual airlines, with each airline's fleet specifically tuned to the scope clause of that airline's contracted

major carrier The United States Department of Transportation defines a major carrier or major airline carrier as a U.S.-based airline that posts more than $1 billion in revenue during a fiscal year, grouped accordingly as "Group III". Airlines According to FY20 ...

. Since 2013,

Embraer Embraer S.A. () is a Brazilian multinational aerospace manufacturer that produces commercial, military, executive and agricultural aircraft, and provides aeronautical services. It was founded in 1969 in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, where i ...

booked nearly 400 E175 orders in U.S., besting the

CRJ900 The Bombardier CRJ700, CRJ900, and CRJ1000 are a family of regional jet airliners that were designed and manufactured by Canadian transportation conglomerate Bombardier (formerly Canadair) between 1999 and 2020. Their design was derived from ...

by over 4 to 1.

was reported in December 2017 it had maxed out on its 153 allowable 76-seat aircraft, and was forced to fly its 102 70-seaters. The E170 has six less business seats but the E175 has 70 seats, keeping the same premium seats with more range than the E170 or the

. SkyWest ordered 30 E175SCs for Delta to enter service in 2018. The E175SC is sold at E170 pricing, a 76-seat retrofit have to go through Embraer.

Impact on aircraft manufacturers

Scope clauses have a major influence on manufacturers of

regional aircraft A regional airliner or a feederliner is a small airliner that is designed to fly up to 100 passengers on short-haul flights, usually feeding larger carriers' airline hubs from small markets. This class of airliners is typically flown by the r ...

. Manufacturers will create airplanes specifically tuned to the scope clauses of most airlines. For this reason and others, regional aircraft tend to be manufactured in families, and competing regional aircraft will often have identical seating capacity.

Renegotiation

United Airlines has been renegotiating its agreement with the

Air Line Pilots Association The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) is the largest pilot union in the world, representing more than 59,000 pilots from 35 U.S. and Canadian airlines. ALPA was founded on 27 July 1931 and is a member of the AFL-CIO and the Canad ...

(ALPA) after it became amendable on January 31, 2019. , "noneconomic" matters relating to pilot scheduling had been agreed and ALPA expected to start discussion of scope aspects. United is seeking to fly more aircraft in the 76-seat category, given that no manufacturers currently produce 50-seaters. ALPA wishes to tie scope discussions to United's overall fleet, including wide-body aircraft, whereas the current contract links regional restrictions only to the narrow-body fleet size. Any agreement reached with United is expected to set a standard for subsequent negotiations with Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, whose pilot contracts become amendable in December 2019 and in 2020, respectively.

References

{{Organized labor Trade unions Civil aviation