During a presentation to the media at Embraer’s Evora plant in Portugal in June, Luis Carlos Affonso, COO of Embraer Commercial Aviation, said the E-Jet had so far notched 1,700 net orders with 1,200 aircraft delivered to date since 2004. The E2 firm backlog stands at 267 (650 including options, commitments etc.), he added.
Affonso explained that the Brazilian manufacturer had updated its commercial forecast to 6,400 aircraft 2016-2035 - “so not a big change” over its previous forecast. “The main drivers of demand are the same–direct replacements, right sizing, regional aviation development (in India for example), 100-seaters for U.S. majors, LCCs [low-cost carriers] in Asia and Europe and turboprop replacement.”
With the latter, he said this was especially the case with the 175E2, “which will be almost as efficient as a turboprop, even in short missions.” While conducting a factory tour after the Evora presentations, Embraer held a brief ceremony to celebrate the cutting of the first metal for the very first 175E2.
Affonso said, since 2012, the 70- to130-seat airliner segment had grown faster than the narrowbody segment, and he predicted this would continue in the future, although the regional segment is still only 15- to 20 percent of the narrowbody segment in terms of deliveries.
The 190E2 offers 16 percent lower fuel consumption over the current E190–the engine giving an 11 percent net gain (the bigger nacelle knocks back the overall efficiency gain from the P&W engines), while 1.5 percent is gained through the use of fourth generation fly-by-wire and 3.5 percent from efficient aerodynamics (wing, landing gear, etc).
According to Affonso, the 195E2 will have the same empty weight as Bombardier’s C Series CS100 with 10 percent more capacity. “The baseline E195E2 carries more passengers, so has a lower cost per seat, and likely lower cost per trip than the CSeries.”
He explained that maintenance costs would be better. With more and more the airlines looking at the entire lifecycle costs, Embraer claims that compared to the CS100 it will offer 25 percent lower airframe direct-maintenance costs per seat. “There are a lot of elements that will provide for this benefit, but as one example, consider 2,500 hours utilization a year for the E2.”
Another attraction for airlines is that the E2 will have a common type rating to the E1, allowing mixed fleet operations and only a three-day course (without the need for simulators) for an E1 pilot to fly the E2.
Testing continues at Embraer’s Gaviao Peixoto fight test airfield in Brazil, with the second prototype set to join the program. Affonso said that “Aircraft number three is not far behind–we’re finalizing final assembly and it will probably fly in next couple of months.”
The fourth is on the assembly line and will fly early next year–“there is a bigger gap as it will have the interior and will be dedicated to lighting and HIRF [high intensity radio frequency] testing etc,” said Affonso.
Concluding his presentation, Affonso said “We are going to use the same final assembly line for both types [E1 & E2],so we are building flexibility into the system as for at least three years, 2018, ’19 and ’20, we will be building both. And there is no cut-off date for E1 production–it will happen at a point where the rate of the E1 would be too small. But a customer who has E1s may want more.” He added: “We didn’t have a dip while customers waited for the E2–we are [building] around 100 planes this year. Our production line is reasonably full for next year, and the following year is the first year of the E2.”