Embraer E-Jet E2 family
The Embraer E-Jet E2 family is a series of four-abreast narrow-body regional jet airliners designed and produced by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The twinjet is an incremental development of the original E-Jet family, adopting the more fuel-efficient Pratt & Whitney PW1900G, a geared turbofan engine. The aircraft family comprises three variants that share the same fuselage cross-section with different lengths and feature three different redesigned wings, fly-by-wire controls with new avionics, and an updated cabin. The variants offer maximum take-off weights from, and cover a range of.
The program was launched at the Paris Air Show in June 2013. The first variant, the E190-E2, made its maiden flight on 23 May 2016 and flight testing proceeded to schedule with little issue. It received certification on 28 February 2018 before entering service with launch customer Widerøe on 24 April. Certification of the larger E195-E2 was received during April 2019; Azul Brazilian Airlines was the first airline to operate this model. The smaller E175-E2 was originally set to be delivered in 2021, but has been delayed past 2027 due to a lack of demand. Regional airlines in the United States were a major customer of the first-generation of E-Jets, however scope clause agreements have prevented them from purchasing the heavier E175-E2.
The E-190 E2 and E-195 E2 variants compete with the Airbus A220 family aircraft, particularly its smaller A220-100 variant., a total of 306 E-Jet E2s have been ordered with 114 delivered and all are in commercial service. Sales for the E-Jet E2 program have been slow, particularly in light of the issues with the weight of the E175-E2.
Development
Background
During the early 2010s, the regional jets segment of the international airliner market grew more competitive with the announcement of the Airbus A320neo and the Boeing 737 MAX, thus it was thought that Embraer would have to respond or else lose the competitiveness of the E-Jet family through inaction. In 2010, Embraer was reportedly considering directly challenging the Bombardier CSeries by developing a clean-sheet five-abreast airliner for 100 to 150 passengers. The alternative option was to somehow improve the E-Jet family to maintain its attractiveness to customers.In November 2011, Embraer announced at the Dubai Air Show that it had committed to developing new generation of its E-Jet family. This option was both lower risk and lower cost than pursuing a clean sheet design. At the time, Embraer reportedly foresaw a demand for 6,400 commercial jets with capacity of up to 130 seats over the following 20 years. The smallest of the new variants, the E-175-E2, seats up to 88 passengers in a single class configuration, the medium-sized E-190-E2 seats up to 120 passengers, while the largest model, the E-195-E2 seats up to 150 passengers. During the late 2000s, Embraer had studied an aircraft of such capacity, dubbed the E-195X, but had discarded the concept in 2010 in light of degraded aircraft performance in the absence of a re-engine. On account of its poor sales and decreasing demand for 70 seat jets, a redesigned counterpart to the E-170 was not pursued.
One key feature of these new variants would be more efficient engines with larger diameter fans; several large engine manufacturers, GE Aviation, Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls-Royce, were all evaluated by Embraer as possible suppliers. During January 2013, it was announced the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G, a geared turbofan, had been selected to be the exclusive engine of the E2. Embraer commercial aircraft president Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva noted that the PW1000G was the best suited engine for the performance sought by customers. The selection of the PW1000G is likely to have been eased by the parallel development of the smaller PW1200G engine for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet as well as the larger and more mature PW1500G for the Airbus A220.
The E2 family made various improvements in its performance, such as a reduced specific fuel consumption, lower emissions and noise output, minimised maintenance costs, along with the use of a new aluminum or carbon fiber-based wing. These wings had a higher aspect ratio, a longer wingspan, and were equipped with raked wingtips instead of winglets. In early 2013, Embraer referred to this project as being "the E-jets second generation". During June 2013, the $1.7 billion program was launched at the Paris Air Show, citing strong customer demand.
The development programme made extensive use of digital model simulations and static test rigs, enabling rapid progress to be made early on. By May 2016, less than three years after being launched, the E2 had 640 commitments from various airlines and leasing companies, 267 of which were firm orders while 373 were options and purchase rights.
Flight testing
On 25 February 2016, the first E-Jet E2, an E190-E2, was rolled out. It performed its maiden flight from São José dos Campos on 23 May 2016, three months ahead of schedule. It flew for three hours and twenty minutes to Mach 0.82, climbed to, retracted the landing gear and flaps, and engaged the fly-by-wire in normal mode. It flew earlier than the previously anticipated second half of 2016. The program had fewer challenges than expected and introduction was then planned in the first quarter of 2018. The airplane was slightly below expected weight and the other two E190-E2 prototypes should fly within a year.On 8 July 2016, the second prototype made its maiden flight; this initial flight lasted two hours and 55 minutes and was incident-free. The first E-Jet E2 flew from Brazil to Farnborough Airshow just 45 days after its maiden flight, demonstrating maturity and confidence in the design. By April 2017, 650 hours of flight tests had been completed and the program was reportedly on schedule. Embraer sought to guarantee a 99% schedule reliability in the first year of service. By June 2017, half of the flight testing had been completed; the aerodynamics were reportedly better than predicted and the E190-E2 hot and high performance was also better than anticipated.
The E195-E2's MTOW increased to and its range to. In June 2017, the four E190-E2s and the single E195-E2 - which was presented at the 2017 Paris Air Show - had made more than 900 flight-test hours, mostly by the E190-E2s. In July 2017, the five aircraft had flown 1,000 flight-test hours while the E190-E2 had accomplished 55% of its test campaign. In January 2018, 98% of the test campaign was completed with 2,000 flight hours. Fuel burn was 17.3% lower than for the E190, up from 16% predicted, while range had increased by from hot-and-high or short runways: from Mexico City or London City, and noise margin to Stage 4 was 3 EPNdB better than specification at 20 EPNdB.
On 28 February 2018, the E190-E2 received its type certificate from the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil, Federal Aviation Administration and European Union Aviation Safety Agency. The first production engines for the larger variant were delivered in February 2019 and should deliver a 24% reduction in per-seat fuel burn compared with the E195. The E195-E2 obtained its type certification in April 2019.
Production
Inspired by the automotive industry's production of multiple models on the same line, Embraer proposed building the E190/195-E2 alongside the original E175/190/195 at a steady rate of eight aircraft per month by the end of 2018. Production of the original E-Jet family was projected to slow if assembly of the E175-E2 had started in 2021. As Embraer transitioned from its previous E-jets to the upgraded E2, it was expecting to deliver 85-95 airliners in 2018 with a negative $150 million free cash flow, less than in 2017 with 78 deliveries in the first nine months with a cash outflow of $700 million: return to profitability will take at least three years once the program investment is reduced and the production ramp up is complete. Hybrid stations capable of work on either the E1 or E2 were more automated, moving to 90% automated drilling and riveting for the E2 wing.Elements such as the cabin were examined from a production standpoint relatively early in the design process, which included the involvement of external suppliers as well. Embraer opted for a sole-source solution for the cabin; this approach reportedly enabled more aggressive deals to be secured from key suppliers and thus lowering costs while also easing integration by reducing the number of suppliers involved.
In November 2017, the E2 was forecast to account for 10% of Embraer's airliner deliveries in 2018 ahead of a planned rise in 2019. Embraer thought Airbus would not be able to lower the A220 supply chain costs enough to make it profitable and viewed the A220 as a heavy, expensive and long-range aircraft. Embraer hoped the E2's operational capabilities would win a majority of the market share as commitments were hoped to follow certification and entry into service. Embraer delivered 101 airliners in 2017, down from 162 in 2008, but targeted delivering 14 E2 monthly or even 16 or 18. Throughout 2022, Embraer worked to ramp production at its São José dos Campos facility, hiring Toyota to help improve efficiency on the E-Jet line using lessons from the Toyota Production System. During the fourth quarter of that year, deliveries surged to 80 aircraft, pushing Embraer's full-year deliveries to 159, up from 141 delivered in 2021.
Introduction
After type certification, the first E190-E2 was delivered to launch operator Widerøe in April 2018, configured with 114-seat in single-class, followed by deliveries for Air Astana and Chinese GX Airlines. Before the aircraft were delivered, Embraer announced that some of the initial E-Jet E2s will need to be retrofitted due to the shorter life of the combustor in their Pratt & Whitney PW1900G engines. A business class is developed with a 2+2 staggered seat layout offering a seat pitch of up to, available from mid-2019.Embraer targets a 99% dispatch reliability after 12 months and 99.5% after four years while the E1 took 10 years to achieve its targeted reliability. On 4 April 2018, Widerøe took delivery of its first E190-E2 in Sao Jose dos Campos. It was introduced between Bergen and Tromsø, Norway on 24 April 2018. By June 2018, the first three E190-E2s delivered to Wideroe accumulated 413 flight hours and 332 cycles, an average of 6.57 cycles per day and an average stage length of 1.28 hours, with a 99.35% dispatch reliability and a 97.74% schedule reliability. Widerøe had a dispatch reliability of 98.5% after its first year of operation. The E2 series have received ETOPS 120 approval from Brazilian, American and European regulators as of March 2024.