United Airlines is about to make its tiniest regional jet a lot more comfortable. The carrier's first CRJ-450 — a heavily reworked version of the ageing CRJ-200 — is on track to start carrying passengers by the end of the year, with a debut out of Chicago O'Hare. United's chief commercial officer Andrew Nocella confirmed the timeline at the opening of the new E Concourse at Washington Dulles, noting the jet's purpose bluntly: connecting big cities to little ones.
So what's different? The standard CRJ-200 crams in 50 economy seats and has long been a passenger least-favourite — small, cramped and basic. The CRJ-450 flips that layout on its head with just 41 seats: seven first class, 16 extra-legroom economy rows and 18 standard economy seats. Add a closet for carry-on bags and Starlink high-speed WiFi, and it starts to look less like a punishment and more like a proper product.
SkyWest Airlines, United's regional partner, is handling the conversions. The first two airframes are currently in modification and certification at SkyWest's Utah maintenance facilities, and while early conversions are slow, later ones should take just two to three weeks each. SkyWest will operate the first 40 jets under the United Express brand, and SkyWest president Wade Steel thinks demand could reach around 100 aircraft across US carriers in coming years.
Where exactly the CRJ-450 will fly from O'Hare hasn't been announced, but expect it on United's thinnest regional routes — the kinds of spokes that serve smaller cities such as Akron-Canton, Ohio, or Fort Wayne, Indiana. It follows the CRJ-550, a similar premium conversion of the larger CRJ-700 that United introduced back in 2019 and which Delta also flies for its own regional operation. American remains the only major US carrier without a CRJ-550 equivalent, though its pilot contract lets it deploy more larger regional jets like the Embraer E175.
The bigger picture is United's aggressive push into premium seating at every size of aircraft, from this 41-seat regional up through the A321neo Coastliner, the long-range A321XLR, and Boeing 787-9s with the new Polaris Studio business class. CEO Scott Kirby put it plainly in March: demand for premium has outpaced expectations, and United is finally building supply to meet it.
Why should a traveller care? If you live in or travel to a smaller Midwest or Rust Belt city, the odds of getting a lie-flat seat may still be zero — but a first-class recliner, real legroom and decent WiFi on a 50-seat jet is a genuine upgrade over what regional flying usually means. Watch United's United Express schedules out of Chicago in the new year to see which routes pick up the new cabin.
