Dubai 2015: Embraer continues to piece it all together

Paulo Cesar Silva, president & CEO, Embraer Commercial Aviation, said that the wing and body of the first E190 E2 are being joined, the aircraft’s engines were due to arrive next week and the aircraft was due to be completed by the end of the year.

First flight was due for the second half of 2016, with first deliveries to customers in the first half of 2018.

There will be four flight-test aircraft for the baseline E190 E2 and two for the larger E195 E2. The number of flight-test aircraft for the smallest version in the range, the E175 E2, has not yet been decided. The E2 ‘iron bird’ test rig is already complete and working.

“We’re very pleased with the number of firm orders – 267 out of a total of around 600 commitments – and a total of around 160 current generation and E2 models have been sold so far this year,” said Silva.

This is despite a drop off in interest from developing nations and slowing economies in certain major nations, such as China and Brazil.

Mathieu Duquesnoy, Embraer vice-president commercial aviation, Europe, Middle East and Africa, said sales this year had been excellent, with a ‘book to build’ ratio close to two.

Traditionally, the Middle East has not been regarded as a strong market for regional jets, due to factors such as local passengers’ dislike for small aircraft and the emphasis on long-haul routes by many carriers. Duquesnoy said that nine operators flew 58 Embraer E-Jets in the region and he was confident this number would rise.

He noted that 41% of all intra-Middle East services departed carrying fewer than 120 passengers and that there remained considerable potential to use regional aircraft to increase the frequency of services between destinations in the area, with 56% of all services in the region having a frequency lower than one return flight daily.

“We see opportunities to ‘right-size’ some narrow-body operations,” he said.