The Embraer E-Jet family is a series of narrow-body, twin-engine, medium-range, jet airliners produced by Brazilian aerospace conglomerate, Embraer. Announced at the Paris Air Show in 1999, and entering production in 2002, the aircraft series has been a commercial success. The aircraft is used by both mainline and regional airlines around the world. As of 31 December 2012, there is a backlog of 185 firm orders for the E-Jets, 580 options and 908 units delivered.
The Embraer E-Jets line is composed of two main commercial families and a business jet variant. The smaller E-170 and E-175 make up the base model aircraft. The E-190 and E-195 are stretched versions, with different engines and larger wing, horizontal stabilizer and landing gear structures. The 170 and 175 share 95% commonality, as do the 190 and 195. The two families share near 89% commonality, with identical fuselage cross-sections and avionics, featuring the Honeywell Primus Epic EFIS suite.
All E-Jets use four-abreast seating and have a "double-bubble" design, which Embraer developed for its commercial passenger jets, that provides stand-up headroom. Although commonly referred to with simply an "E" prefix, the jets are technically still Embraer Regional Jets ("ERJ"s), which still refers to the smaller Embraer ERJ range. Embraer dropped the ERJ prefix in its advertising early in production. The E-190/195 series of aircraft have similar capacities to the initial versions of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and Boeing 737, which have always been considered mainline airliners.
The launch customers for the aircraft were the French airline Régional Compagnie Aérienne Européenne with ten orders and five options for the E-170; and the Swiss airline Crossair with an order for 30 E-170s and 30 E-190s. The largest single order for any type of E-Jets has come from JetBlue with 100 orders for the E-190, and options for 100 more. JetBlue set the record for the longest flight of the E-190 family on November 6, 2008, when one of its aircraft made a non-stop flight from Anchorage, Alaska (Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport) to Buffalo, New York (Buffalo Niagara International Airport), a total of 2,694 nmi (4,989 km). This was an empty aircraft on a non-revenue flight. The aircraft eventually returned to JFK after a two-month-long charter service with Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
In November 2011, Embraer announced it would re-engine the E-Jet family and deliver the first example before 2018. On January 8, 2013, Embraer announced its selection of Pratt & Whitney to provide exclusive power for the re-engined E-Jet family.
In February 2012, Embraer announced they are studying the development of a new variant with 130 seating capacity. The study is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.
The E-170/E-175 models in the 80-seat range are the smaller in the E-Jet family. They are powered with General Electric CF34-8E engines of 14,200 pounds (62.28 kN) thrust each. The E-170 and E-175 directly compete with the Bombardier CRJ-700 and Bombardier CRJ-900, respectively, and loosely compete with the turboprop Bombardier Q400. They also seek to replace the market segment occupied by earlier competing designs such as the BAe 146 and Fokker 70.
The Embraer 170 was the first version produced. The prototype 170-001, registration PP-XJE, was rolled out on 29 October 2001, with first flight 119 days later on February 19. The aircraft was displayed to the public in May 2002 at the Regional Airline Association convention. After a positive response from the airline community, Embraer launched the E-175. First flight of the stretched E-175 was on June 2003. Certification for the 170 took nearly 2 years after the public debut; delivery of the first E170 aircraft to the launch customer LOT Polish Airlines was in March 2004. The launch U.S. customer For the EMB 170 was US Airways, after FAA certification, the aircraft entered into revenue service on April 4, 2004 operated by the MidAtlantic division of US Airways, Inc. The first E-175 was delivered to Air Canada and entered service in July 2005. The 170-001 prototype performed its last flight on April 11, 2012. Its destiny was disassembly in the US for spare parts.
The E-190/195 models are a larger stretch of the E-170/175 models fitted with a new, larger wing, larger horizontal stabilizer and a new engine, the GE CF34-10E, rated at 18,500 lb (82.30 kN). These aircraft compete with the Bombardier CRJ-1000. In addition, being in the 110-seat range, they compete with smaller mainline jets including the Boeing 717-200, and 737-500/-600 the Airbus A318, and some of the upcoming Bombardier CSeries.
The first flight of the E-190 was on March 12, 2004 (PP-XMA), with the first flight of the E-195 (PP-XMJ) on December 7 of the same year. The launch customer of the E-190 was New York-based low-cost carrier JetBlue with 100 orders and 100 options. British low-cost carrier Flybe launched the E-195 with 14 orders and 12 options.
As the 190/195 models are of mainline aircraft size, many airlines will operate them as such, fitting them with a business class section and operating them themselves, instead of having them flown by a regional airline partner. For example, Air Canada operates 45 E-190 aircraft fitted with 9 business-class and 88 economy-class seats (currently modifying from 84 seats) as part of its primary fleet.
On 2 May 2006, Embraer announced plans for the business jet variant of the E-190. This would have the same structure as the E-190, but with an extended range of up to 4,200 nm, and luxury seating for up to 19. It was certified by the USA Federal Aviation Administration on 7 January 2009. The first two production aircraft were delivered in December 2008.
In 2011, Embraer announced that it would focus its attention on developing revamped versions of the E-Jet family, rather than an all-new aircraft, for the time being. The new variants would be better-positioned to compete with their chief rival, the Bombardier CSeries, and would be powered by new engines with larger diameter fans that would offer improvements in specific fuel consumption, as well as slightly taller landing gear and possibly a new aluminum or carbon fiber-based wing. Air Lease Corp has tentatively named the revamped E-Jet the E-198, and has advised Embraer to stretch the E-190 by one row (seating 118 in a one-class configuration) and the E-195 by two to three rows (seating 130 to 134). GE, Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls-Royce were all possible engine suppliers. Pratt & Whitney's geared turbofan engine was selected in January 2013 as the engine for the new E-Jets versions.
Embraer considered producing an aircraft which was known as the E-195X, a stretched version of the E-195. It would have seated approximately 130 passengers. The E-195X was apparently a response to American Airlines' request for a replacement for their MD-80s. Embraer abandoned plans for the 195X in May 2010, following concerns that its range would be too short.
Model | Firm Orders | Options | Deliveries | Firm Order Backlog | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
E-170 | 193 | 29 | 183 | 10 | |
E-175 | 198 | 266 | 163 | 35 | |
E-190 | 560 | 265 | 451 | 109 | |
E-195 | 142 | 20 | 111 | 31 | |
Total | 1093 | 580 | 908 | 185 |
Source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_E-Jet_family