Recently announced plans by ATR to fit its turboprop family with hybrid-electric propulsion for entry into service by 2030 haven’t affected Embraer’s thinking about an entirely new design of its own powered by conventional engines, according to the Brazilian company’s commercial aviation CEO, Arjan Meijer. Speaking during the last of a series of briefings Embraer held in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, ahead of the Farnborough Airshow, Meijer noted that the company’s conversations with potential operators and engine makers haven’t raised much doubt about its fundamental strategy.

“We have done RFIs [and] we're in very close contact with the engine manufacturers,” he explained. “We believe we have a good sense of what’s there today, what's coming around the corner, and what technologies might come into the future…We also know that bringing really different new technologies to our market also carries some operator risk.”

Meijer added that it will take longer for new propulsion technologies such as hybrid-electric and hydrogen to advance enough to efficiently power a heavier, larger turboprop suitable to carry between 70 and 90 passengers such as Embraer has proposed. A so-called sustainability roadmap recently published by Embraer shows the introduction of a hydrogen-powered turboprop in 2045.

“It will be a massive leap forward before hybrids or even hydrogen will be match-fit for a 70- to 90-seat aircraft because 70 to 90 seats for all of us sounds like a small aircraft, but it's a lot of weight you have to get off the ground,” he stressed. “So we believe we're going need more time [and] we keep focused on our project.”

Now hoping to launch the new 100 percent SAF compliant turboprop in early to mid-2023, Embraer has already made some fundamental changes to the proposed design since it first revealed an artist’s rendering in October 2020. Most notably, it has changed the position of the engines from under the wings to at the rear of the fuselage—a move meant to ease maintenance tasks, mitigate noise, and simply improve the airplane’s aesthetics. The company has set a certification target of late 2027 for one of the two seating capacities in its plans, although it still hasn’t decided which will come first. It has chosen to use a metal fuselage based on that developed for the original E-Jets.

Embraer performed wind-tunnel testing this past March to determine the aerodynamic characteristics of the propellers and began a series of tests for the entire airplane in June. It expects to complete that phase of testing next month.

Also speaking in Sao Jose dos Campos, Embraer head of engineering Luis Carlos Affonso estimated that a 15-year window exists between the introduction of a conventionally powered turboprop and one powered by new technologies.

“There is an opportunity [for a conventional engine] in terms of new materials, new aerodynamics, and all that,” said Affonso. “So one of the things we ask [engine makers]: how efficient and how modern an engine can you provide in terms of fuel efficiency and in terms of maintenance cost?

“The second part is in terms of the new technologies that are arising—hybrid-electric, hydrogen, and things like that. So what are [the engine OEMs’] views for now and for the future?”

With the replacement of the engines from under the wings to the back of the fuselage, Embraer already has begun considering its current plans' adaptability to future propulsion developments.

“Our turboprop initially had the engines on the wings, and we have evolved [the design by] putting the engines in the back, so that the platform—the architecture of the airplane’s basic design—could be adapted for the derivative with an innovative technology, maybe hydrogen with a fuel tank in the fuselage and having, for instance, hydrogen burning in gas turbines without having to completely redesign the airplane,” explained Affonso.

In terms of where among the company’s commercial aircraft product offerings the turboprop will fit given an apparent overlap with the current E-Jets, Affonso added that he sees no risk of cannibalizing Embraer’s jet market with the new propjet. Although planning to design the smaller of the two models to fit 70 seats in a single-class configuration, Embraer sees airlines choosing a multi-class application carrying closer to 50 seats, particularly in the U.S., he said. The 90-seater will find a home in places such as Asia, where characteristics such as a 20 percent speed improvement over today's ATRs and higher seating capacity will, according to Embraer, help it erode the competing company’s currently dominant position.

Affonso also dismissed concerns about turboprop avoidance in the U.S., arguing that the relatively wide cabin cross-section and low cabin noise will negate the negative perception passengers have harbored of anything with a propeller.

“And, of course, in terms of CO2, it will be at least 30 percent less—up to 40 percent less—than a jet, and the same with cash operating cost,” he noted. “So we believe a new-generation turboprop will be seen as modern…With this configuration's cross-section and overhead bins—one per passenger—we believe that there will be a place [for the product] and our customers are telling us that.”