The ceremony took place at Embraer’s São José dos Campo headquarters in Brazil on April 4 and was attended by hundreds of representatives from the manufacturer, the Norway-based airline, suppliers and invited guests.
The aircraft, PR-EFL, was expected to be ferried to Norway shortly and begin revenue service later in April.
VIDEO: The delivery ceremony of the E190-E2 on Embraer’s YouTube channel.
The E190-E2, which is designed to seat between 97 and 114 passengers, is one of three variants in the E2 family of aircraft.
Wideroe, which has three E190-E2s on firm order and purchase rights for a further 12 on the type, has configured the aircraft with 114 seats in a single-class layout.
“The E190-E2 is an impressive aircraft. It is the ideal airplane for Widerøe as we introduce jets for the first time in the company’s 84-year history,” Widerøe chief executive Stein Nilsen said in a statement.
“I am convinced our passengers are going to love the cabin, our operations people are going to embrace the new technology, while our financial collaborators will appreciate the economics the aircraft permits.
“The delivery of this E2 marks a continuation of a real success story in global aviation,” Slattery said in a statement
“I’m also delighted to welcome Widerøe as our newest Embraer customer and want to thank Stein and his team for the support over the last year; working together with us as partners to deliver this airplane today. I’m planning on being on the aircraft when it first enters Norwegian airspace next week and really looking forward to that!”
Such a great way to end an incredible day! Last night reception celebrated the first E-Jet #E2 delivery and our partnership with Widerøe! Tusen Takk, @FlyWideroe! pic.twitter.com/eeyQl1jLMB
— John S. Slattery (@Johnslattery100) April 5, 2018
The E190-E2 received its type certificate from the Brazilian Civil Aviation Agency (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil – ANAC), the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in late February.
Looking at the other two E2 variants, the E195-E2 (120- 144 passengers) began flight testing in March 2017 and is slated for certification and entry into service with launch customer Azul Brazilian Airlines in the first half of 2019.
Boasting a range of 2,600nm, the E195-E2 is capable of operating Sydney-Bali or Darwin-Bangkok.
The trio will be powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1700G and PW1900G geared turbofan engines.
The E2 improves on the current generation E-Jets with new engines, new aerodynamically advanced, high-aspect ratio, distinctively shaped wings, and improved systems and avionics, including fourth generation full fly-by-wire flight controls.
This was expected to result in double-digit reductions in fuel and maintenance costs compared with the current E-jet family. From an environmental perspective, the new aircraft also produced less emissions and less noise. The aircraft will also have a new interior with larger overhead bins and a new first class concept, among other interior improvements.
Indeed figures from Embraer showed the E190-E2’s fuel consumption was 17.3 per cent better than the current generation E190 during the flight testing program and a claimed “nearly 10 per cent better” than the aircraft’s direct competitor.
Compared to the first-generation E190, 75 per cent of the aircraft systems are new.
The E2 family of aircraft competes against Bombardier’s C Series jets and others in the up-to-150-seats segment that Embraer estimates will require 10,550 new aircraft over the next 20 years.
The world's most efficent single-aisle aircraft will be making its commercial debut tomorrow as we celebrate its delivery to @flyWideroe. Join us around 10 am BRT tomorrow #flyWideroeE2 pic.twitter.com/kPQQv1pvzu
— Embraer (@embraer) April 3, 2018
Baxter
says:Would be call to see a embraer hub in the northern terriorty, that flew to random smaller international markets. Air North has the leap already, nice to see them serve East Timor
Australiana
says:Would be great to see Qantas flying the new E2’s. But they’re too busy putting Qantas Link passengers on ancient Fokkers.
Lechuga
says:I would love to see these flying to smaller airports. ( or bombardier) to places like Coolangatta, Newcastle, Cairns, Townsville, Darwin. Alice Springs, anywhere in Tasmania, Mildura etc.
James
says:@ Australiana
So you’d rather they forked out massive dollars for a brand new aeroplane which would seriously affect their profits?
Or still run the Fokker with plenty of cycles left on the airframe, performs very well and in most cases still fairly quiet. Which literally costs a fraction of which to buy/lease?
Australiana
says:I’m guessing the E190-E2 has the range for Brisbane/Sydney/Melbourne to Perth? Can anyone confirm?
Stuart
says:Why do Embraer show a range map quoting ISA figures for Darwin a city that rarely experiences ISA conditions. It would be more honest to use ISA +10 or +15.
John Cox
says:Looking at the comments do I perceive that none of the writers live in the remote towns that are serviced by a regular Air service.
Fine to have a new aircraft but if country people can not afford to fly because of the sky high air fairs currently in place what’s the use of the airlines buying new aircraft for these routes unless t the running costs are dramatically less allowing air fares to come down ??
Australiana
says:@ James
Seriously affect their profits? You’re having a laugh surely.
Qantas can afford a few new Embraers! If anyone can afford to have a nice new fleet of regional jets it’s Qantas/Link.
Australiana
says:@ James
I’d also add to that, one of the international ratings agencies has recently put Qantas on watch citing they have deferred replacing older aircraft to the point that they’re creating a bit of a time-bomb down the line. While this move artificially increases profits today it creates an expenditure bubble down the track when they have to replace too many old aircraft at once.
James
says:@ Australiana
No laughs here mate. Clearly you’re not involved in the aviation industry for work.
Imagine the purchase price, engineering spares, training of crew costs etc…
The cost of the Fokkers is winning. Once the E2 has been in service a while and the 717/Fokker 100’s are buggered, you might see them think about it.
Until then, it’s definitely not me having the laugh…
James
says:@ Australiana
Do you really think that QF wouldn’t have thought about that??
When the price is right, it’ll happen.
Kim
says:Mr Australiana questions the range, which is stated 2,900km. So Alice Springs (1,600km) is a goer from Darwin, also Kunanurra and Gove then some SE Asian countries. ASP is half way to Adelaide, so this aircraft would need to be refueled in ASP. The comment about Qantas creating a “time bomb” with replacement aircraft is timely, but would co-incide with Mr. Joyces’ planned departure from the airline, leaving the problem to a new CEO.
John Cox
says:Obviously James lives in a major city ,what garbage you can nock Qantas but at the end of the day until the Airlines the Goverments both Federal and State the Councils that own the Airports get the costs down to allow Country people and country based business access to air fairs that are afordable ,the longer this does not happen the longer the agricultural areas will not expand To the. detriment of the future prosperity of Australia.
Australiana
says:@ Kim
You are exactly right. Mr Joyce will leave it to the new CEO. He was very clever to right down the values of the A380 very early on in his tenure to get the losses out of the way and then claim he “turned around” the fortunes of the airline. Very clever indeed. The problem with the delayed expenditure will be left for the new CEO.
Marc
says:@Lechuga
Gold Coast Airport (not called Cooly anymore) is already onto A330s, 787s, 777s, is Australia’s 6th busiest with over 120 aircraft movements a day, 6.5 million passengers pa, to o/s destinations inc Japan, HK, KL, Singapore, and NZ.
This is not a ‘smaller’ airport like the others you have suggested.
Whilst the E190 is a lovely craft, its simply too small for routes already served by generally packed 320s and 737s.
The 717 services Canberra. Jetgo use ERJ 40-50 seaters for services to Wagga, Albury, Rocky, and Townsville.
Trogdor
says:Re the “Qantas fleet time bomb” – I doubt that E2s figure much into Qantas’ future fleet plans. I’d say that they would have their eyes much more firmly on the 797 program, which has the potential to both replace some of their A330 routes as well as certain domestic 737 runs.
Craigy
says:@ John Cox. Unfortunately small regional centres don’t have the passenger numbers to warrant larger aircraft and with it the economies of scale to reduce air fares, i.e. there quite simply aren’t the number of passengers to spread the costs. For example a regional centre with say three services a day. First you have to have the staff on the ground to service the flight for checkin and loading and unloading the aircraft, landing charges, technology at the airport to support passenger services and the list goes on. Then their is the cost of fuel compared to a major centre. Despite state governments subsidising intrastate routes, it is still expensive to provide the service. You will never get the same air fares regionally as you have between Sydney and Melbourne. To think otherwise is pure fantasy. Geoffrey Thomas wrote a very good article in AA several months ago about regional flying in WA. Worth the read.
@ Australiana. I don’t know what finance knowledge you have but there are multiple demands on available capital expenditure on airline budgets. For Qantas it is a competition between Qantas, Qantaslink and Jetstar. Qantas has said that the B717 and F100 will be around for at least another 10 years. Qantas has been purchasing the B717 as they come off lease and will continue to be a main part of the Qantas network for years to come. As James said, the F100 have low cycles and fit the network in WA very well. As for the devaluing of the A380, it was well known with the financial community for years that the value placed on the Qantas fleet in the asset value column was too high. This was downgraded when Qantas took that 2 + billion loss. The values are now more closely linked to market value.
As for fleet replacement strategy. Qantas has been very upfront about the strategy. I wouldnt take much notice of an overpaid analyst in a credit rating agency. This is the strategy. At the moment the B744 non ER are being replaced by the B789 and expect an increase in the order by around 12 as part of the 2017/18 FY results in August. The Dash 8 for Qantaslink ,but the 200 to be retired sooner rather that later, will be around for a while with the cabin upgrade refurb announced with the 1/2 yearly results. The next announcement will be the ULH order in Aug 2019. This will be the winner of the Project Sunrise project. Expect the A333 to be replaced with this order. The next project is the domestic replacement. This project will result in a mixed order of direct B738 replacement and A332 replacement meaning that there will be a mixed narrow body and dual aisle. So either A320 or B737 max plus the NMA from Boeing or Airbus.
Will the E2 jets find their way into the Qantas fleet in the future? I doubt it. I think the Airbus/Bombardier Cs100/300 is the more likely choice. With such a large airbus fleet, there are advantages staying within the overall umbrella of the Airbus product range irrespective of what arrangement Embraer and Boeing come up with.
James
says:@ Craigy
Very well said.