The Argentine Air Force (FAA) received the first of two Embraer ERJ 140LR jets that will be used in Air Squadron II, of Air Transport Group 1.
The aircraft was presented with the air force livery and the designation T-95.
The Argentine government has been trying to recover the air force’s transport capacity and to do so has sought Boeing 737 jets, but last year it opened a competition to acquire the Brazilian regional aircraft.
The company Regional One won the auction for US$6.9 million by offering two ERJ 140LRs that were originally delivered to American Eagle, a former regional airline of American Airlines.
ERJ 140 is a rare variant of the regional jet family and was developed at the request of American Airlines with a fuselage 1.42 meters shorter than the ERJ 145, with two fewer rows.
The T-95 is configured with 44 seats and as it is the LR (Long Range) version, it is capable of flying non-stop for 1,650 nautical miles (3,058 km).
“With the arrival of the Embraer 140 that joins the Air Force to reinforce the transport fleet, we are reaffirming the need to have historical memory and to reconstruct the value, the history of the Armed Forces and the contribution they make to the country”, said the Minister of Defense, Luis Petri, present at the ceremony.
