Northwest to Buy 54 Jets From Bombardier

Northwest Airlines Corp. has agreed to purchase 54 Canadair regional jets valued at $1.3 billion from Canada’s Bombardier Aerospace, which said the order is its largest single sale of the planes. St. Paul, Minn.-based Northwest also will have the option to buy 70 more of the jets, which seat 50 passengers. Bombardier Aerospace, a unit of Bombardier Inc., beat out Brazil’s Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica, known as Embraer, to win the order. The order comes as U.S. airlines are snapping up the jets to replace turboprop planes.