Embraer executives told a group of journalists gathered at the Brazilian airframer’s Fort Lauderdale, Florida headquarters in mid-October that they’re still bullish on the prospects for the company’s new E-Jets E2 line, despite union scope clauses that will limit sales of the airframer's newest range of passenger jets in the U.S. “Now if we look today where we are globally, we see almost 30 percent of the market up to 150 seats is represented by Embraer,” Embraer Commercial Aviation chief commercial officer Arjan Meijer said. “And we believe that this percentage will go up in the future.”

The journalists were gathered to experience flying on Embraer’s newest and largest of the E-Jets line, the E195-E2, which has been on a global tour that kicked off with the Paris Air Show in June following type certification in April 2019 by ANAC, the FAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. Since then, the single-aisle jet that’s adorned from nose-to-tail in what Embraer calls the “TechLion” livery—with “Profit Hunter” emblazoned along the aircraft’s forward fuselage—has made stops in China, Southeast Asia, Europe, and North America. It will wrap up its tour this year with stops in South America, Africa, and the Middle East, including the Dubai Airshow in mid-November.

Powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW1900G Geared Turbofans providing up to 23,000 pounds of thrust, the E195-E2 comes in a trio of two-by-two seating configurations: three-class with 120 seats, single-class with 132 seats, or single-class with 146 seats, the latter of which has 28 inches of pitch between seat rows. A fully loaded E195-E2 has a range of 2,600 nm with a 41,000-foot ceiling, maximum cruise of Mach 0.82, and mtow of 135,584 pounds. 

Launched in 2013, the E-Jets E2 line—which in addition to the E195-E2 includes the E190-E2 (certified in 2018) and E175-E2—is aimed at offering new variants with improved fuel consumption, emissions, noise, maintenance costs, and longer maintenance intervals. Embraer said it’s done so through adding aerodynamically advanced, high-aspect-ratio wings, improved systems, and Honeywell Primus Epic 2 avionics, fourth-generation fly-by-wire flight controls, and the P&W Geared Turbofans (PW1700G on the E175-E2 and PW1900G on the E190 and E195-E2s). Meijer noted that the E195-E2 during flight testing achieved a 25.2 percent fuel-burn reduction compared with the E195, while the E190-E2 saw a 17.3 percent fuel-burn reduction over its predecessor, also during flight testing. The first E175-E2 prototype is in final assembly with expected entry-into-service in 2021.

Unless union scope clauses change, it’s not likely that Embraer will see much of any sales of the E2 jets to regional airlines in the U.S., where it claims to have more than 80 percent of the 76-seat regional jet market. That’s because the scope clauses limit regional jets to a maximum of 76 seats and mtow of 86,000 pounds. All three E2 variants exceed those measures. Last fall, Embraer removed from its backlog an order for 100 E175-E2s from SkyWest related to the scope clauses.

Still, Embraer executives point to demand from outside the U.S. for its new E2 jets. At this year’s Paris Air Show, alone, the company recorded firm orders and commitments for up to 37 E195-E2s from Spain’s Binter Canarias (two firm orders) and KLM (15 firm orders and 20 purchase rights. And, an Embraer spokeswoman noted, the scope clauses won’t stop Embraer from selling E2 jets to mainline carriers in the U.S., as Airbus has done with the competing A220 to Delta Air Lines and Jet Blue. “Embraer is not leaving out any potential opportunities in marketing the airplane,” she told AIN.