Incredible Journey

Embraer E-Jets touch 1,000 mark, look beyond

Mark de Dunnachie began his career in 1989 where he was in March 2004, when LOT Polish Airlines took delivery of the first E170 jet from Embraer’s aviation and defence behemoth, it was the first milestone of a remarkable journey in the history of the Brazilian company. There has been no looking back for the Brazilian aerospace major. On September 13, 2013, Embraer touched a major milestone in its journey of excellence. The 1000th E-Jet production aircraft was delivered to Bryan Bedford, President, Chairman and CEO of Republic Airways Holdings at a ceremony at Embraer’s São José dos Campos facility. The journey of Embraer has been dotted with many highpoints as the Brazilian air framer showed to the world the capabilities of an emerging economy. Being innovative, tuned to market needs, aggressive and forward looking, have made Embraer reach great heights.

The first version to be produced was the Embraer 170 (E170). The prototype 170-001, registration PP-XJE, was rolled out on October 29, 2001, with the first flight 119 days later, on February 19. The aircraft was displayed to the public in May 2002 at the Regional Airline Association convention. Certification for the E170 took nearly two years after the public debut and delivery of the first E170 jet was in March 2004.

Following the positive response from the airline community, Embraer went ahead and launched the E175. The first flight of the stretched E175 was on June 2003. The launch customer for the EMB 170 was US Airways. After the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification, the aircraft entered into revenue service on April 4, 2004, operated by the Mid Atlantic division of the US Airways Inc. The first E175 was delivered to Air Canada and entered service in July 2005.

Deliveries of Embraer commercial jets span the world and there was celebration across when Republic Airlines took delivery of the 1,000th Embraer jet. The aircraft is an E175 that the Republic will fly on behalf of American Eagle, the regional partner of American Airlines of Ft. Worth, Texas. It was celebration time and the event paid tribute to the 85 customers and 26 leasing companies that have added E-Jets to their fleets since the first revenue flight of an E170 by LOT Polish Airlines. The theme of the ceremony was “change” in reference to how E-Jets have transformed commercial aviation and brought new efficiency, connectivity and standards of onboard comfort to the regional aircraft sector. Truly, the Brazilian company has transformed itself in the realm of aerospace development, keeping abreast of the changing times, demanding needs and highly environmental conscious community.

Employees carrying placards with logos and flags of each customer paraded through the audience and assembled beside the aircraft to form a map of the world. Frederico Curado, President and CEO of Embraer, spoke of the magnitude of the changes that E-Jets have brought to customers, passengers and even to Embraer itself, in its journey which has just begun, so to say. He made specific reference to how E-Jets continue to open new markets, particularly in China, and how perceptions of regional aircraft have changed.

E-Jets have defined a new category of aircraft. Embraer E-Jets have blurred the line between smaller regional jets and larger single-aisle airplanes. Today, Embraer customers’ flying E-Jets with audio and video-on-demand entertainment systems, WiFi and premium class cabins is quite the norm. E-Jets routinely fly long sectors—some as long as five hours—and are often scheduled on routes in parallel with larger single-aisle jets.