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An Alliance E190, as shot by Lenn Bayliss.
Inside the Archive #19 | Embraer E-Jet
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While Airbus and Boeing duke it out at the top of the passenger jet market as they vie for dominance in larger narrow-body and wide-body aircraft, a third player has carved out a lucrative niche in the bustling regional jet sector. Brazilian planemaker Embraer has become the world’s third-largest manufacturer of civil aircraft, with a heavy focus on planes seating fewer than 150. The E-Jet family, comprising the 170, 175, 190, and 195 in ascending order of size, has become a workhorse for regional airlines and charter and FIFO operators, for whom a larger Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 would be uneconomical.
Conceived in the late 1990s, the E-Jet was formally unveiled at the 1999 Paris Air Show and made its first test flight in 2002. Its launch customer, LOT Polish Airlines, took delivery of the first E170 in March 2004, with the E190 and E195 rolling out later that year and the E175 launching in 2005. It has become a smash hit with regional airlines, particularly in the US, eventually superseding the older ERJ series – and as other manufacturers like Fokker and Bombardier have left the market, regional jets have largely been ceded to Embraer (with the exception of the likes of the Airbus A220, a rebrand of the Bombardier CSeries).
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The E-Jet family is now the world’s most popular regional jet, eclipsing its ERJ predecessors, as well as the Bombardier CRJ series and the A220 combined.
The original E-Jet has itself now largely been superseded by the updated E-Jet E2 family, with one exception: due to union “scope clauses” that prevent the use of the heavier E175-E2, the original E175 is still in strong production for the US market. Launched at the Paris Air Show in 2013, the E2s feature more fuel-efficient geared turbofan engines, redesigned wings, overhauled fly-by-wire avionics, and other improvements. The E195-E2, in particular, offers up to 146 seats, allowing it to better compete with the A220.
Australia’s own Alliance Airlines is the largest operator of first-generation E190s in the world, with 45 currently in operation, most of which are wet-leased to QantasLink; captured above by Lenn Bayliss is VH-UYZ in Alliance colours at Toowoomba Wellcamp. Other Australian operators of the original E-Jet include Airnorth, which uses both E170s and E190s, and National Jet Express (NJE), which has a fleet of eight E190s and plans to add at least another two this year. QantasLink is looking to purchase up to 14 E190s of its own to replace Network Aviation Fokker 100s in Western Australia, with three to arrive this year; Virgin Australia Regional Airlines, meanwhile, has turned to the next-generation E190-E2 to replace its own Fokkers, with its first – VH-E2A – touching down in Australia last year as the 1900th E-Jet delivered worldwide.
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