Brazilian carrier Azul will operate the 2,000th aircraft, with Embraer describing the E-Jet programme as revolutionising regional aviation.
It was 13 years ago that Embraer delivered its 1,000th E-Jet, a milestone that even then reflected the market success of the Brazilian airframer’s family of regional jets.
On 2 September, Embraer doubled its score, handing over the 2,000th E-Jet – an E195-E2 to be operated by Brazilian carrier Azul.
That milestone might never have been expected when Embraer launched the E-Jet programme in 1999. Since then, the airframer developed the larger, modernised E2 variants, pushing the family in the small-narrowbody-aircraft space and competing with types like Airbus A320neos and Boeing’s 737 Max.
“At that time, I don’t think it was anticipated that we would sell 2,000, let alone… with a follow-up model like the E2 and continuing to build the backlog,” Embraer commercial aircraft chief executive Arjan Meijer tells FlightGlobal. “We are now formally the third-largest family of aircraft after the 737 and A320.”
Embraer marked the 2,000th delivery at an event in its hometown of Sao Jose dos Campos, with representatives from Azorra and Azul on hand. Azul ordered the aircraft but transferred its ownership to Azorra – whose board members include Azul founder David Neeleman – under a sale-leaseback deal.
“Two thousand aircraft is a huge milestone for an OEM. That’s a lot of deliveries,” says Ron Baur, president of Azorra, a Fort Lauderdale company that carved a market niche by leasing regional and small-narrowbody aircraft – specifically E-Jets and Airbus A220s.
Enabling Secondary Routes
The E195-E2’s comparatively cheap per-trip and per-seat costs (the latter figure being comparable to that of larger jets like A320neos and 737 Max 8s) make the E-Jet a less-risky proposition to airlines, Baur says. Airlines find the aircraft well-suited for adding flights to existing routes and launching new routes, especially to secondary cities, that would be economically unviable with larger aircraft – in the same way 787s and A350s made new long-haul routes viable, Baur adds.
Carriers like Azul and Canada’s Porter Airlines have used E195-E2s to expand into new markets. And US start-up Avelo Airlines, which almost exclusively operates routes to secondary cities, many of them previously untested, plans to expand with the type. Avelo in 2025 ordered 50 E195-E2s, with its chief executive Andrew Levy saying the type beat out the A220 and 737 Max 7 for Avelo’s business.
Other top E2 customers include Spanish carrier Binter Canarias, Finnair, KLM Cityhopper, LATAM, SAS and Scoot, according to Embraer and fleet-data provider Cirium.
E2s have also proved popular with lessors. Azorra has ordered 54 of the jets (16 E190-E2s and 38 E195-E2s), of which Embraer has delivered all but 17 E195-E2s. Other lessor customers include Aircastle, AerCap and TrueNoord.
“Over the past two decades, Embraer has transformed regional and short-haul aviation through an aircraft family designed to connect communities, unlock new markets and deliver efficiency for airlines,” Embraer says.
Embraer’s 2 September delivery brings to 10 the number of E2s Azorra has placed with Azul, Baur says. The airline has a total of 44 E195-E2s and seven E195s in service, according to Cirium.
“They really have shown how you can connect a big country like Brazil [with] secondary routes, to complement their A320 network with smaller capacity,” Embraer’s Meijer says of Azul. “It’s one of the biggest fleets that we have flying around globally on the E2.”
27 Years Ago in Paris
It was at the Paris air show in 1999 that Embraer launched the E-Jet development programme, pitching the aircraft, powered by GE Aerospace CF34 turbofans, as a modernised replacement for then-current regional jets like Embraer’s own ERJ and Bombardier’s CRJ.
Embraer delivered the first E-Jet, an E170, in 2004 and later rolled out the E175, E190 and E195.
The first-generation models – which accommodate 78 passengers on the low end with the E170 and 124 on the high end with the E195 – proved a hit with airlines thanks to their operating economics and to having wider cabins than ERJs or CRJs, making them more comfortable for passengers.
On the heels of that success, Embraer in 2013 launched the E2 programme – a major update to its E175, E190 and E195. It gave E2s Pratt & Whitney PW1000G geared turbofans, new wings, a new fly-by-wire flight control system, updated landing gear and additional seats and range.
“It’s essentially a new aeroplane,” says Baur.
Embraer in 2018 delivered the first E190-E2, a 2,950nm (5,463km)-range aircraft with capacity for 114 passengers in a single-class configuration. The following year it handed over the first E195-E2, which can carry 146 passengers and has 3,000nm of range. Twin PW1900Gs power both types.
Meijer says E190-E2s and E195-E2s shifted the programme from the regional-aircraft space into what he calls the small-narrowbody sector, with the E195-E2 squarely competing against Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies.
Embraer had also started developing the E175-E2, but that project remains on ice, perhaps permanently, due to provisions in pilot contracts that prohibit most US regional airlines from operating jets with maximum take-off weights exceeding 39,000kg (86,000lb). The E175-E2 exceeds that cap but the E175 does not. For that reason, Embraer has kept E175 production humming.
Thanks to rampant demand from US airlines, E175 sales have far outstripped those of other variants, with Embraer having delivered some 830 of the model since the programme’s inception. It has also delivered roughly 190 E170s, 590 E190s, 170 E195s, 40 E190-E2s and 175 E195-E2s, according to Cirium. Some 90 airlines in more than 60 countries have operated E-Jets and the fleet has logged 48 million flight hours, Embraer says.
The company now sits on a backlog of about 465 E-Jets, including 174 E175s, 27 E190-E2s and 264 E195-E2s, its data shows. Customers hold options and purchase rights for another 408 of the jets.
Embraer aims this year to deliver 80 to 85 E-Jets, up from 78 in 2025. In the next few years it intends to bring production back to its pre-coronavirus rate of roughly 100 jets annually, executives have said.
The company, like other airframers, hauled back production amid the pandemic. It has since been working through supply chain shortages that have constrained output.
Deliveries this year are “pretty much on time, with very limited delays”, Meijer says, adding, “We have a little bit more delays still on the” E175s.
“[The] supply chain has drastically improved,” he adds. “We still have a couple of suppliers that we’re working with to get to an even better place.”
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