BATON ROUGE – American Airlines will add to the number of larger Bombardier CRJ 700 jets to its Baton Rouge Metro Airport flight schedule starting April 5th. 

American Airlines currently uses 6 of its 12 larger CRJ 700 jets at the airport, traveling to and from its Dallas-Fort Worth hub. American will use 10 of the 12 jets for the Dallas-Fort Worth service starting this Spring. The airline will also use 4 of the 6 CRJ 700 jets for its BTR Charlotte hub flights.

Delta and United continue to include larger aircrafts with coach and first class seating in their BTR schedules along with their 50-seat regional jets. Delta's BTR schedule currently includes dual-class CRJ700, CRJ900 and Boeing 717 aircraft while United includes the Embraer 175 dual-class jet among its BTR flights.

BTR airport officials said they are encouraging more airlines to add larger aircrafts.

"They will provide additional seating options for our passengers, and much needed capacity on these important hub routes," BTR Interim Airport Director Ralph Hennessy.

BTR's January passenger volume increased 5 percent and officials hope the trend continues with the increased seating.

"We encourage area residents to support the use of these larger jets as often as they can," said Hennessy. "Using our existing service is the best way to show the airlines we can support new flights."