Niigata Global - United Airlines Orders 30 Regional Jets.

Online, June 12, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Global Business News -- Niigata Global reportedly announced to investors at a meeting that United Continental Holdings is to buy 30 regional jets from Embraer in a deal estimated to be worth in the region of $840 million.

A new contract with pilots is enabling United Continental to upgrade many of the existing 50 seat aircraft used by its commuter partners to Embraer's 75 seat E-175 jets. A spokeswoman for United Continental stated in an interview that deliveries of the new jets are expected to begin next year and that the deal contains an option for a further 40 planes.

Niigata Global are understood to have commented that there was no disclosure as to which of the Chicago based carrier's United Express partners will operate the new jets or how many of the existing 50 seat planes will be replaced. Of the 50 seat planes currently operated by United Express carriers, 270 are Embraer ERJ-145 jets and 75 are Bombardier CRJ200, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Embraer and United have a long-standing partnership and apparently are delighted to further reinforce that, spokesperson for the Brazilian company stated in a public statement. Before merging with United Airlines in 2010, Continental Airlines was the lead customer for the Embraer ERJ-145 in 1996, eventually operating the largest fleet of the planes with 275 jets.

The new Embraer E-175 jets will be configured with 12 first class seats, 16 premium and 48 economy seats according to a statement from United Continental.

Niigata Global allegedly noted that the new jets have a book value of $28 million each, suggesting that recent sales of the E-175's average price is around $26 million. No price was disclosed by United whereas Embraer estimated the deal's value at $2.9 billion, although that is based on the un-discounted list price of $41 million per plane.