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lag carrier Garuda Indonesia will decide in the fourth quarter this year which sub-100 regional jets to procure for contract signing in 2012 so the new airplanes can be operational by late 2013.

Garuda president director Emrisyah Satar said on Friday evening that the final decision would be made fairly and in the open.

“We plan to buy 18 of the sub-100 regional jets to serve secondary cities, with bases in Balikpapan, Makassar, Manado and Medan,” Emirsyah told The Jakarta Post at the airline’s headquarters in the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport compound in Cengkareng, Banten.

“The airplanes will be leased, although we may purchase the aircraft, depending on future studies.”

Garuda is considering the Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen from Canada and the Embraer E-Jets E190 from Brazil.

Bombardier flew one of its 65-seat CRJ700 NextGens to Jakarta for a series of presentations with Garuda’s board of directors, employees and the media on Thursday and Friday.

“We bring this aircraft because it has similarity in layout with the CRJ1000 NextGen we are offering to Garuda, although with fewer seats,” Bombardier Asia Pacific airline marketing manager Eugene R. Pieterse said at a briefing before a flight demonstration for the media on Friday afternoon.

“The CRJ700 Next Gen has nine business-class seats and 56 economy-class seats, while the CRJ1000 NextGen has nine business-class seats and 84 economy-class seats.”

Pieterse said Bombardier had flown the aircraft from Canada through Alaska, Russia, Japan and Hong Kong to Jakarta to show the aircraft-maker’s seriousness about doing business with Garuda.

Stands for Canadian Regional Jet, the CRJ NextGen airplane line, also included the CRJ900 with a capacity of 80 to 90 seats. The NextGen was developed from the smaller, 50-seat CRJ200.

Bombardier vice president of Asia-Pacific sales Trung Ngo said the CRJ1000 Next Gen — listed at US$45 million — was the best option for Garuda because it had the same capacity and half the operating cost as the Boeing 737-500s that Garuda currently operates.

Bombardier has yet to sell one of its regional jets in Indonesia, while Embraer signed a deal at the Paris Air Show on June 21 with privately owned Sriwijaya Air for a firm order of 20 E190s and an option for another 10 in a deal worth up to $1.28 billion based on listed prices.

Also at the Paris Air Show, Garuda signed a firm order for 25 Airbus A320s and an option for another 25 A320s for its low-cost carrier unit, Citilink, for between $85 million and $91 million each. Airlines usually get discounts for large orders.