Demand Increases for Canadair Regional Jets

With a long waiting list for new airplanes of similar cabin size, demand is growing for executive/VIP conversions of the Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ). But the CRJ's popularity may have as much to do with price as with availability of competing models. Granted, the Canadair model has a range of only about 3,000 nautical miles (even with auxiliary fuel tanks), but you can buy a relatively low-time CRJ200 for about $10 million. And even after adding another $7 million for maintenance, an engine upgrade and an executive cabin, the price tag is considerably less than that of a new Bombardier Challenger 850 (about $29 million) or Embraer Legacy 600 (about $26 million).