More than 100 airlines from over 60 countries are flying the Brazilian birds. Embraer’s E-Jets family has captured the imagination of airlines which know-how to service their markets efficiently and effectively. The E-Jets family of E170, E175, E190 and E195 have proven their worth with airlines and continue to grow at a healthy pace. One of the high points of the E-Jets family has been customer experience and the foremost among them being seating. There are no middle seats and everyone either sits by a window or on the aisle, and passengers love E-Jets for this reason among others.

Airlines appreciate E-Jets for their configuration flexibility. Seating versatility makes E-Jets compatible for a range of business applications. Low-cost carriers value high-density, single-class seating to minimise unit costs. Regional and mainline airlines can configure their E-Jets with segregated, premium cabins and variable-pitch arrangements. Full-service galleys, dedicated lavatories, spacious wardrobes and cabin dividers, ensure E-Jets deliver a consistent, quality experience for first and business class passengers across an airline’s network.

Optimised Design

An optimised design means that E-Jets are built with the lowest possible aircraft operating empty weight in order to carry the highest revenue-generating payload. Since fuel consumption is proportional to aircraft weight, a lighter airplane translates directly into cost savings that go right to the bottom line. A streamlined maintenance programme, a high degree of parts commonality among the family and fast turnaround times increase overall utilisation and efficiency while decreasing unit costs.

E-Jets Maintenance

The E-Jets maintenance plan emphasises simplified procedures and longer check intervals to help keep costs low. Routine checks every 120 flight hours or 14 days (whichever comes first), can be performed overnight. Basic checks are scheduled every 750 flight hours and are easily performed overnight. Heavy checks for aircraft structure occur every 20,000 flight cycles.

High Degree of Commonality

A high degree of spare parts commonality among the E-Jets family (up to 86 per cent) delivers cost savings right to the bottom line. Inventories are reduced, maintenance procedures streamlined, and crew training and transition expenses are minimised.

With cross crew qualification, differences training, differences checking and recurrent training are some of the simplest in the industry and use the latest computerbased training and simulator tools. The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) grades EJet training in each of these categories at level A. There are minimal training differences instruction required for maintenance personnel and flight attendants and none for flight dispatchers or operations engineers.

With the benefits of a common family, airline schedulers and crew planners will find last-minute equipment changes easier to accommodate.

Incredible Journey

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

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 Sao Jose 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 FA 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 Airways took delivery of the 1000th 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.

—By R. Chandrakanth

Reliability

Reliability is the cornerstone of scheduled airline operations. That’s why Embraer developed AHeAD-PRO, an innovative aircraft health, analysis and diagnostic system available on every E-Jet. AHeAd-PRO is a computational, webbased platform that allows airlines to continuously monitor the performance of an E-Jet while in flight. It regularly transmits fault identification data for analysis by ground personnel, so that they can plan maintenance remedies at a downline station. In-flight fault messages are received from the EICAS and central maintenance computer and transmitted via the ACARS network. Using links to Embraer’s digital technical publications, errors are identified, correlated and logged. AHeAd-PRO allows airline maintenance teams to continually monitor each E-Jet’s operating history in the fleet to minimise ground time and maximise air time.

Environment Conscious

E-Jets comply with ICAO Annex 16 Chapter IV noise restrictions mandated in 2006. Together with its partners, Embraer has incorporated new sound-absorbing materials, produced lighter, quieter systems and improved engine nacelle acoustics. Embraer teams continually work to improve aircraft operational procedures to ensure uncompromised performance at noise-sensitive airports. General Electric’s CF34 engine is designed to be more efficient—CO, UHC, NOx and smoke emission margins range from 26 per cent to an impressive 98 per cent below ICAO Annex 16 (Volume II) CAEP/6 limits for the E170/E175 and from nine per cent to 77 per cent for the E190/E195.

E170: Regional Redefined

This versatile aircraft has redefined regional flying with the E170 advanced range (AR) version which can carry a full load of passengers up to 2,100 nm (3,892 km).

E175: More Seats, More Revenue, Lower Unit Cost

Tapping the gap between regional and mainline aircraft with an E-Jet means you can pick a starting point. The E175’s flexible configuration lets you determine the optimal number of seats you need to match capacity to market demand. Moreover, complete family commonality makes it easy to introduce larger E-Jets to serve the 70-120 segments the way you want.

The advanced range (AR) version of the E175 can carry a full load of passengers up to 2,000 nm (3,706 km).

E190: Discovering 100-Seat Potential

Airlines around the world have discovered the untapped potential of the 100-seat capacity aircraft. The E190 replaces the old generation jets, right sizes fleets, supplements or replaces mainline flying and opens new markets. Single class, dual class, LCC, longor short-haul, the E190 has the versatility to go the distance.

E195: Model Your Business Your Way

As the E195 delivers a mainline standard of cabin comfort, it can be deployed to suit an airline’s business model. An optional high capacity version makes it ideal to expand LCC networks with the right number of seats and frequencies, especially in new markets, or fly the E195 to replace your ageing fleet. The advanced range (AR) version of the E195 can carry a full load of passengers up to 2,400 nm (4,448 km).