The Air France group plans to acquire 35 to 50 Embraer E190-E2 regional jets to renew the fleet of regional subsidiary Hop!, according to sources in French newspaper Les Echos. The possible deal would reach the figure of up to $3 billion.
Last week, Hop! confirmed the deactivation of its fleet of 14 Bombardier CRJ-1000 jets and that it would only operate with the Embraer E170 and E190. The French regional company has 34 aircraft from the Brazilian manufacturer (15 E170 and 19 E190 models).
Les Echos affirms that the French carrier and Embraer representatives have already started discussions on the possible agreement, which could be effective until the end of the third quarter.
None of the parties, however, confirmed the information. A spokesperson for the airline commented that “the Air France group is constantly studying the fleet needs of its companies”.
The possible purchase of E190-E2 jets meets the environmental commitments of the Air France-KLM group, which plans to drastically reduce the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of its fleets by 2035. By exchanging Hop! for the new E2 the savings with aviation fuel can reach 17%, according to the newspaper
If confirmed, the Hop! could be one of the biggest in the E2 family to date and also an important advance in the manufacturer’s backlog, which ended 2021 with 325 orders to be delivered.
Air France became the new operator of the Airbus A220 in 2021, an aircraft that will rival Embraer’s E2 family. But even the A220-100, its smallest version, has a much larger capacity than the E190-E2.
