Embraer has picked up another African customer for its E-Jets, with the delivery of two E170s to new operator Enugu Air of Nigeria.
The new airline is being created by the regional government of Enugu. Services for the airline will be operated by existing Nigerian carrier XE Jet, which currently operates a small number of Bombardier CRJ200s and earlier-generation ERJ145s.
The new airline is being created partly to improve air links from what the regional government says is an underserved part of the country.
Enugu Air’s E170s will be provided by Egyptian company CIAF Leasing, according to local sources. CIAF Leasing could not be contacted for confirmation.
The two E170s have already arrived in Nigeria, and there are plans to add an E190 before the airline starts operations, Enugu State’s commissioner for transportation, Obi Ozor said on local broadcaster Afia TV. The E170 will be in a 76-seat configuration, with the E190 offering 100 seats.
Ozor said that three more—as yet unspecified—aircraft would join Enugu Air in the next stage of the new airline’s development later this year.
Services will initially be domestic, to the country’s capital Abuja, its main commercial center Lagos and the oil and gas hub of Port Harcourt.
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