Embraer again sends ambiguous signals about new narrow-body plane

Embraer held its Media Day 2024 in recent days, a traditional meeting with press representatives at its headquarters in Brazil.

The event is an opportunity to clarify several topics about the company’s plans, but this time the rumors about the development of a new commercial aircraft capable of competing with the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320 have created more doubts.

Already waiting for the question, CEO Francisco Gomes Neto stated the following, according to Simple Flying:

“We are always studying opportunities for new products, not only in commercial but in all other business units as well. We can do different products, but at this point in time, we don’t have concrete plans to do a bigger airplane.”

According to the Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico, the statement was as follows:

“We have the capacity to make a bigger plane, we have studies, but, at the moment, we are focused on selling the planes we have, improving our profitability and being able to do more after 2030.”

In short, Gomes Neto said nothing new other than admitting that yes, Embraer is carrying out surveys and studies on a narrow-body aircraft, however, it is just that, studies.

Even so, it is possible to find several conflicting headlines in articles published about the statement. There are those who saw confirmation that Embraer “is studying starting to produce larger planes” and those who saw the chief executive’s words as confirmation that the project does not exist for now.

Rising stocks and optimistic expectations

Francisco Gomes Neto’s wordplay does not seem random. For Embraer to appear in the media as a potential competitor to Boeing and Airbus is always an opportunity to attract the spotlight at a time when the company needs to close more orders for the E2 family.

So far, only 306 firm orders have been closed, a total that will rise to 326 aircraft with the recent agreement with Mexicana de Aviación.

Embraer’s CEO himself avoided discretion by revealing that there are talks about orders from LATAM and Gol, Brazilian airlines that have so far ignored the local manufacturer’s products.

During the press conference, Gomes Neto once again highlighted the large potential market for the E2, a family of jets with 110-146 seats.

In his view, the overloaded assembly lines of Boeing and Airbus make Brazilian jets a quick alternative for renewing or expanding aircraft fleets.

Not surprisingly, he claims that there are more than 200 potential sales of these jets, but so far little of this has become real for now.

Despite this, Embraer shares soared in 2024, with an appreciation of 80% to date. There is widespread optimism with the company, whether in the commercial aviation division, where the largest revenue is, or in segments such as defense and executive aviation.

What cannot be forgotten is that optimistic expectations have a limit, when they take a long time to occur or end up not being confirmed.