Ask the Editors: The Aviation Week Network invites our readers to submit questions to our editors and analysts. We’ll answer them, and if we can’t we’ll reach out to our wide network of experts for advice.
Embraer’s third-quarter revenues were down 63% from a year earlier, and a deal to sell its commercial aviation unit to Boeing has fallen apart. Given its financial troubles, won’t it be difficult to sell aircraft without a major partner?
Aviation Week & Space Technology Editor-in-Chief Joe Anselmo answers:
We posed that question to Embraer CEO Francisco Gomes Neto. His answer: “Embraer does not need to be saved.”
Gomes Neto told Aviation Week the company has secured financing from Brazil’s development bank and others that should provide 2-3 years’ of liquidity. That should be enough to see the Brazilian company through the COVID-19 downturn and onto a path to recovery. He also led a new financial plan that aims to make Embraer’s operations leaner and more agile.
That said, the company is reeling from the one-two punch of COVID-19 and Boeing’s last-minute decision to scuttle the commercial partnership. Gomes Neto says Embraer is looking for new partners in commercial aviation “to open new markets, production, services and products.” But the company will not sell a controlling interest in a unit, as it (almost) did with Boeing.
Embraer also is dusting off plans to develop a new turboprop aircraft and is looking for partners to help fund development. On the military side, the company has a modern, new product in its C-390 transport. And looking to the future, it is developing a hybrid-electric light aircraft for the Brazilian military.
Many challenges lie ahead. It will be interesting to see whether new partnerships emerge—and where those partners come from. You can listen to our complete interview with Gomes Neto here: Embraer’s CEO on the Breakup With Boeing and Going It Alone.
Related Content
Comments