It took five years, eight months and 15 days for Embraer’s E2 jet family to reach an important milestone. On Tuesday, December 19, the 100th new generation aircraft was delivered by the manufacturer, an E195-E2 to Binter Canarias.
Since the first delivery of an E190-E2 in early April 2018 to Norwegian carrier Widerøe, Embraer has overcome several obstacles to put its new, most modern commercial aircraft into service.
In 2020, for example, the coronavirus pandemic caused the assembly line to practically stop, due to social restrictions that dropped demand for passenger flights.
Then, issues in the supply chain delayed the resumption, further affected by Pratt & Whitney’s delay in solving failures of the GTF engine that powers the E2.
Furthermore, Embraer still faced a bitter divorce from Boeing, in what could have been a successful partnership, capable of facing Airbus on equal terms.
But the Brazilian company gradually recovered and began to benefit from the efforts made in the new phase.
The E2 family, made up of the E175-E2, E190-E2 and E195-E2 jets, arrived on the market with the aim of offering lower operating costs, greater capacity and performance.
| Customer | E190-E2 | E195-E2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air Astana | 5 | 5 | |
| Air Peace | 5 | 5 | |
| Azul | 20 | 20 | |
| Binter | 6 | 6 | |
| Helvetic | 8 | 4 | 12 |
| KLM | 18 | 18 | |
| Pionair | 1 | 1 | |
| Placar | 1 | 1 | |
| Porter | 26 | 26 | |
| TUI | 3 | 3 | |
| Wideroe | 3 | 3 | |
| Total | 18 | 82 | 100 |
The E175-E2 model, however, is suspended because it depended on the relaxation of scope clauses established between US airlines and the pilots union. As this did not happen, the aircraft is too heavy to be operated by US regional carriers.
The intermediate version E190-E2, the first to enter service in April 2018, has so far had little demand. Until the 3rd quarter of 2023, there were only 34 firm orders for it. There are currently 18 jets in operation, including two aircraft on charter flights.
E195-E2 shows sales potential
It is the E195-E2, therefore, that has shown promising performance. The aircraft with capacity for up to 146 passengers is the largest commercial jet ever developed by Embraer.
It has been competing for orders with the Airbus A220, a difficult competitor, whether due to its greater range or the commercial strength of the European manufacturer. But even so, the E195-E2 has won over several customers, with 246 firm orders so far.
According to data collected by ADN, 82 E195-E2s have been delivered since September 2019, when Azul Linhas Aéreas took delivery of the first of them.
New customers in 2024
The largest E2 operator, however, is Porter Airlines, which had 26 E195-E2s in its fleet as of this week. Next comes Azul, with 20 E195-E2s, and KLM Cityhopper, with 18 aircraft of the same type.
Helvetic Airways, from Switzerland, has 12 E2s, being the only one to operate both models (eight E190-E2s and four E195-E2s).
Binter Canarias, one of the jet’s first customers, now has six aircraft, with the delivery of the E195-E2 with EC-OEA registration.
In December alone, Embraer has already delivered five E195-E2s, including two to Porter, two to Azul and one to Binter, but this number is expected to grow until December 31, when several more aircraft are expected to be sent to its customers.
The outlook for the E2 family is very promising, with several new operators joining the current ones, such as Royal Jordanian, Salam Air, Scoot and SKS Airways, starting in 2024.
Certainly, the milestone of 200 E2 aircraft delivered should occur in a much shorter period of time.
