Embraer launched the new E2 version of its E-Jets yesterday at the Paris Air Show with firm orders, purchase rights, options and letters of intent totaling 350 airplanes from seven customers.
U.S. regional airline SkyWest serves as the launch customer for the E175-E2 with a firm order for 100 and purchase rights for another 100. International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) signed an LOI covering firm orders for 25 E190-E2s and 25 E195-E2s, along with options on another 25 of each of the same models. Finally, Embraer announced letters of intent from five unidentified customers from Europe, South America, Africa and Asia covering orders for 65 more airplanes.
Speaking here yesterday, Embraer CEO Frederico Curado revealed that the company has committed $1.7 billion in company cash flow and funding from financial markets to the program, the launch of which AIN revealed in its opening day show edition. “There has been some debate over the past few years about what we were doing and what we were not doing,” said Curado. “But our main business is commercial aircraft; that’s what we’re made of. It’s in our DNA.”
Scheduled for entry into service in the first half of 2018, the 97- to 114-passenger E190-E2 would serve as the baseline model and retain its current seating capacity. However, the second model scheduled for EIS—the E195-E2—would carry three more rows of four-abreast passenger seats than the current E195 holds, giving it a maximum high-density capacity of 144 passengers once it enters service in 2019. Finally, the smallest of the three models, the E175-E2, would enter service in 2020 and carry one more row of seats, raising its capacity range to 80 to 90 seats. Embraer has opted to exclude the 70-seat E170 from the project.
Curado said the extra capacity in the E175 and E195 would come from a fuselage stretch rather than simply a reconfiguration of the interiors. The E190 would keep the same airframe. While all three types would get new wings, the E190-E2 and E195-E2 would share one design while the E175-E2 gets its own. Fuel burn improvements over the current models include a 16-percent advantage for the E175-E2 and the E190-E2, while the E195-E2 shows a 23-percent gain. In fact, Embraer claims the E195 will deliver better seat mile costs than the substantially larger Airbus A320neo.
