Gallery Update: Chasing Another "Aha!" Airlines/ExpressJet ERJ at Eugene

My first spotting trip out to Eugene for the year has me chasing down another one of ExpressJet's ERJ-145s. Curiously, there haven't been any recent photos of this airframe circulating online since ExpressJet took it on for their new independent operations that hasn't even hit its 6-month mark yet. So it was a mystery regarding what this ERJ-145 looked like as far as paintjobs and I was curious; according to information on PlaneSpotters.net, this ExpressJet ERJ-145 is doing business as "Aha!" Airlines so I thought it would be in the same livery that I saw last November. But I was a little surprised by what I saw. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Eugene (EUG) 9

Preview:

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N267WN) clearing 16R after arriving as SWA1374 from Las Vegas.

SWA1374 taxiing to the terminal. At the beginning of the year, Southwest announced that they would add additional service from Eugene to Denver and San Jose.

Empire Airlines (d/b/a FedEx Feeder) Cessna 208B Super Cargomaster (N899FE) arriving on 16R as CFS4662 from Portland.

ExpressJet Airlines Embraer EMB-145LR ERJ-145LR (N843HK) arriving on 34L as ASQ7062 from Reno/Tahoe operating on the behalf of "Aha!" Airlines.

To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed with the paint job (or lack thereof!).

ASQ7062 taxiing to the terminal. 

Like the other ERJ-145s in ExpressJet's independent fleet, this airframe first started out with the now-defunct Trans States Airlines, having first been delivered in June 2004 and flew exclusively under the United Express banner.

N843HK went into storage in October 2015 and remained so until September 2018 at St. Louis, Missouri. It returned to revenue service with Trans States in October 2018, this time bearing Trans States Airlines' house livery and remained in service until the carrier's demise in 2020 as a result of the pandemic repercussions. Airframe went back into storage in March 2020 at St. Louis and remained so for a year.

Leasing firm Leland Aviation took possession of the airframe in March 2021 and ferried it out to Kingman, Arizona until August that same year, when the revamped ExpressJet took delivery of the airframe.

While ExpressJet did take delivery of this frame in August 2021 and had it ferried to Phoenix, Arizona, it was not pressed into service for "Aha!" Airlines operations until January of this year. So technically, this airframe is either the second or third ExpressJet took delivery of, but the fourth to be put into service .

I'm sure ExpressJet will send this ERJ-145 in for a proper paint job in due time.

SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N170SY) arriving on 34L as SKW3333 from Los Angeles.

Allegiant Air Airbus A319-112 (N302NV) in the Las Vegas Golden Knights special livery arriving on 34L as AAY17 from Palm Springs.

The last time I saw this airframe and livery was last November when the weather was absolutely atrocious, so I'm glad I got to see it in more optimal conditions.

NetJets Cessna 680A Citation Latitude (N560QS) arriving on 34L as EJA560 from Seattle/Boeing Field.

EJA560 taxiing to the FBO ramp.

Peterson/Cat Learjet 45 (N657PP) arriving on 34L from Driggs, Idaho. This is the same Lear 45 I saw in Salem a little over a year ago that experienced a birdstrike!

Ameriflight Beechcraft C99 Airliner (N193SU) arriving on 16R as AMF8013 from Portland via McMinnville. From what it looked like on flight trackers and as denoted by this particular flight number, AMF8013 first flew to McMinnville for training to shoot some instrument approaches before coming down to Eugene to pick up cargo before heading back up to Portland as AMF1925.

Allegiant Air Airbus A319-111 (N317NV) taxiing for departure as AAY1415 for Santa Ana.

AAY1415 departing on 34L for Santa Ana.

N267WN taxiing for departure carrying on the same flight number it arrived in on as SWA1374 for Oakland.

Empire Airlines (d/b/a FedEx Feeder) Cessna 208B Super Cargomaster (N946FE) arriving on 34L as CFS7690 from Roseburg.

SWA1374 departing on 34L for Oakland. From what I've heard, Southwest's passenger loads out of Eugene have been pretty decent, especially if they're confident to add flights to Denver and San Jose starting this summer.

CFS7690 taxiing to the south cargo ramp.

N843HK taxiing out for departure as ASQ7063 for the return-trip to Reno/Tahoe.

N657PP taxiing back out for departure for Livermore, California.

Peterson/Cat is a well-known company for construction equipment and vehicles. And with multiple locations throughout the west coast, one would expect the company to have a corporate jet or two running around the region.

N657PP departing on 34L for Livermore.

Clearly, once this airframe was ready for service, ExpressJet likely needed it to start flying revenue service right away, so there probably wasn't time get it into a paint shop. One can still barely make out bits of the former Trans States titles and where the tail logo used to be. Considering that this was my first look of this airframe on its left side, I never noticed the remnants of the old Trans States titles!

Still, it's always neat to see an all-white livery on a commercial airliner without any identifying features on occasion. I still have one more ERJ-145 in ExpressJet's current fleet that I've yet to photograph.

ASQ7063 entering the active.

ASQ7063 lining up on 34L.

ASQ7063 departing on 34L for Reno/Tahoe.

With ExpressJet not even six months into their new independent operations yet, any new developments with regards to their expansion plans will be great interest in the future.

And let's not forget "Aha!" Airlines' upcoming business model of offering vacation packages (mimicking those of Allegiant's), which as of right now is still a work in-progress.