Régional Compagnie Aérienne Européenne, or Régional for short, is a subsidiary airline wholly owned by Air France which connects hubs at Paris, Lyons, Clermont-Ferrand, and Bordeaux to 49 airports in Europe. The airline operates in a slightly modified Air France livery. It became the first European operator of the Embraer 190 aircraft in November 2006 .
Regional is upgrading and consolidating its fleet, considering allying with a turboprop partner as it increasingly turns its focus to its jet operations. Its two remaining Saab 2000s were phased out in 2006 and its nine Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias will later follow, marking the exit of all of Regional’s turboprop aircraft.
On order:
Régional average fleet age is 9 years in August 2007 .
It became the first European operator of the Embraer 190 on 23 November 2006 when the first of six on order was delivered. The 100 seat aircraft will operate domestic and intra-European services in full Air France colours . Régional received its first Embraer 170 of 6 orders, which wears the new Régional logo, on September 2nd 2008.
The Embraer 190s are part of a new order over the Air France-KLM group with another 18 further options. 5 Fokker F70s will be transferred to KLM Cityhopper in the near future.