Embraer on June 27 cut the E175-E2’s first metal—a wing stub that passes through the bottom part of the fuselage of the smallest member of the re-worked E-Jet family—at its Evora factory near Lisbon, Portugal. The first member of the family, the 190-E2, flew for the first time in late May and as of June 28 had completed 37 hours of testing during 16 flights.

The announcement comes as the company prepares for leadership changes, including the retirement of CEO Frederic Curado and promotion of Commercial Aircraft chief executive Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva on July 1. On the same day, Embraer Commercial Aircraft chief commercial officer John Slattery will assume Silva’s old post.

Embraer said that it would likely display the first E2 prototype at the Farnborough International airshow in early July, so it aims to get wet runway testing done in time. Luis Carlos Affonso, COO of Embraer’s commercial aircraft division, said the first flight proved to be “the best first flight we’ve ever done” and noted that the company would also release a new market forecast at Farnborough on July 12.

Affonso noted Embraer’s ability to contain costs on the E2 program. “We’re very efficient in the development of airplanes: $1.7 billion for development of new E-Jets and we are on target,” he said.

For operators, so-called right-sizing could result in 50 percent higher profit per seat than a 170-seat aircraft delivers via a 30 percent gain in revenue per seat and 20 percent better seat costs.

Embraer has scheduled the E175-E2 to enter service in the first half of 2018, while the E195-E2 remains on schedule for a year later. Embraer has run the engines on the second 190-E2 prototype, which Affonso said will “probably” fly during the first week of July. Schedules call for the third flight-test airplane to fly this year as well. “We are finalizing final assembly and it will probably fly in next couple of months,” he said. The fourth and final flight-test aircraft—to be equipped with a full interior and dedicated to lightning and HIRF testinghas also entered the assembly line and Embraer expects it to fly early next year. 

Affonso said that the E2’s Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engines did exhibit the same extended re-start times similar but larger engines on the Airbus A320neo have experienced, but he added he remains confident that Pratt would solve the problem well ahead of the E2’s entry into service. “When we selected [the PW1900G] we knew it was very efficient but also knew it was new technology and that could bring hiccups,” he said. “But we considered we would not be the first application, and there would have been enough time for any hiccups to be corrected, and I believe that is what is happening. Our engines do have some of the issues found in the other applications but by the time we get there they should have been sorted out...There is no impact on the flight-test campaign from these issues.”

The company plans to use the same final assembly line for both the E1s and E2s, requiring it build “flexibility” into the system. “For at least three years—2018, 2019 and 2020we will be building both. We are creating ways of managing that,” said Affonso. “We’re still accepting E1 orders too.”

He added Embraer has set no planned cut-off date for E1 production. “It will happen at a point where the rate of the E1 would be too small,” he explained. “But a customer who has E1s may want more…”

“We didn’t have a dip while customers waited for the E2we are around 100 planes this yearour production line is reasonably full for next year and the following year is the first year of the E2,” concluded Affonso. “The fact we launched the 175 with the new [wing] tips allowed us to win 85 percent of the orders in the U.S. market over the past three years so it was a good strategyanticipating the re-fleeting in the U.S. with airlines moving from 50-seaters to 70-seaters and creating a product that would be the most efficient in that market–and to fill the production dip.”