Brazilian airframer also reports record backlog in latest financial results.
Six years after its aborted break-up and part-merger with Boeing, Embraer is in arguably its strongest-ever financial position, with its KC-390 military transport, executive jets, and regional aircraft all in high demand.
The Brazilian airframer has just revealed record second-quarter revenues of $2.2 billion – 23% higher than in April-June 2025 – and its highest-ever order backlog at $34.5 billion, continuing an upward trend for the past seven quarters.
“This has been our strongest Q2 performance in our history, and our best deliveries in 16 years,” Embraer chief executive Francisco Gomes Neto said during a 10 August briefing to analysts and the media.
As reported in early July, Embraer delivered 65 aircraft during the period – 21 Praetor and 24 Phenom business jets, and 20 E2 and E175 commercial types, its highest number of deliveries during the second quarter since 2010.
While there were no military aircraft shipments, the company did in May announce its largest ever export contract for its KC-390 Millennium, from the United Arab Emirates, with the Gulf nation committing to buy 10 of the military airlifters, with 10 options.
It could get even better for Embraer. In June, the company said it was willing to open a production line in India if New Delhi chooses the KC-390 to replace a fleet of Soviet-era Antonov and Ilyushin airlifters.
Although India has not yet released a request for proposals, Embraer appears in a strong position to supply the so-called Medium Transport Aircraft. The requirement could total dozens of aircraft, although industrial offset will be a key consideration in any decision.
A longer-odds but potentially even more lucrative deal would be with the USA, where Embraer is also pledging to establish an assembly line and local supply chain should it be awarded any government contracts.
Already, the KC-390 has won a succession of contests around the world, with Columbia the latest to select the type. Beyond the Brazilian air force, export customers include Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia, South Korea, Sweden and Uzbekistan.
After a standing start earlier this century, executive aviation has become Embraer’s biggest division, outpacing commercial aviation in unit terms by around two to one. Its Phenom 300 – one of a four-strong range – has been the top-selling light jet for 14 years.
During the quarter, Embraer secured certification for the latest version of its midsize Praetor 500E from Brazilian, European and US regulators, one month after those authorities cleared its larger sibling, the Praetor 600E.
Embraer has also had a strong start to the year in commercial aviation. Ahead of a busy Farnborough air show, in June it won a firm order from lessor Azorra for 15 E195-E2 aircraft, with 15 options. The deal took the E2 programme past 500 orders since its launch in 2013.
As with the KC-390, Gomes Neto sees India as a potentially breakthrough market. “We are working on opportunities to help [Indian airlines] introduce E2s to help improve connectivity between smaller cities,” he says.
Eve – the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer partly spun off in October 2020 – remains one part of Embraer that is consuming extensive engineering resources but not delivering revenue.
Although its eVTOL programme is behind several competitors in terms of its certification effort, Gomes Neto says the company remains committed. “We are very confident about Eve’s contribution to Embraer’s growth, especially beyond 2030,” he says.
Eve has been flying its prototype since late 2025 and it recently completed its first partial transition test. Gomes Neto says the project will be “derisked” when the first full transition flight takes place. Embraer is targeting entry into service by the end of 2028.
Had Boeing gone ahead with its plan to absorb Embraer’s commercial aviation arm, with a separate joint venture established to develop new markets for the KC-390, Embraer would today be a very different beast.
The US manufacturer terminated the merger because it said Embraer had not met its side of the bargain by a 24 April 2020 termination date – although the onset of the pandemic and the crisis brought on by the Max grounding doubtless played a role.
Today, Embraer is a more robust business than in 2019, with Gomes Neto predicting production of 120-130 commercial jets, 200 executive aircraft, and 10 KC-390s by the end of the decade. “The outlook is good, but we are doing it in a very responsible way,” he says.
As for this year, Embraer’s 2026 deliveries guidance remains unchanged – at 80 to 85 commercial jets and 160-170 executive jets. However, it has upped its EBIT forecast to 10% to 10.6%, from 8.7% to 9.3%.
The post Embraer firmly on course as it notches up its best-ever second quarter first appeared on FlightGlobal.