With Boeing and Airbus's hands full with their respective composite widebody aircraft, Embraer has begun to publicly discuss its options for entry into the narrowbody market.This week's exclusive report by Mary Kirby, looks at what Embraer executive vice president airline market Mauro Kern had to say about the possibility of an all-new design larger than the E-195 .
In what is perhaps the Brazilian airframer's strongest indication yet that it may bring to market a clean-sheet competitor to Bombardier's P&W geared turbofan-powered CSeries, Embraer executive vice president airline market Mauro Kern says that Embraer is studying "some possible work with a little bigger [aircraft] than the current 195, not only in terms of using the current platform, but also in terms of actually a new design".Kern said clarity on a decision is 18 to 24 months away and an entry in to service wouldn't be until the second half of the next decade. However, that timing puts Embraer in an interesting position to potentially be the initial launch customer for the CFM LEAP-X platform, slated for certification by 2016.
Embraer is talking with General Electric, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce, however Kern pointed out his company's special relationship with GE, which makes the CF34 engines that power the family of E-Jets. The report says that the thrust requirements for a potentially 130-140-seat aircraft would exceed "the nominal 20,000lb (89kN) upper threshold agreed by CFM International partners GE and Snecma for unilateral engine development, meaning that any offering would likely come from CFM."
Kern did not elaborate on what the configuration of a clean-sheet design may take, but its future competitor, Bombardier's CSeries, has opted for 3-2 seating up to 145 seats with its larger CS300 aircraft. The 3-2 seating arrangement is also shared by the currently flying DC-9, MD-80 and 717.
The Brazillian company now potentially expands the narrowbody competition to five parties with China and Canada actively vying for a piece of the market against Boeing and Airbus. Perhaps distantly, keep an eye on the result of the upcoming first ruling in the Boeing/Airbus WTO case, expected by the close of summer. The preliminary ruling could set the stage for how launch aid funds are handled for future commercial aircraft development programs.
on July 17, 2009 9:12 AM | Reply
Embraer certainly has an opportunity here. Both Airbus and Boeing's financial and engineering resources are tied up with larger projects, likely for the next couple of years.
If they were to make an A32X/737-sized aircraft family from a clean sheet design with a two-to-three year head start on the competition, they could make a killing! (In the financial sense, I mean.)
With JetBlue already flying the ERJ-190, I see a potential launch customer in them. One can't rule out Southwest, either, but I think their interest would hinge more on what Boeing has in the works when decision time comes.
It's nice to know us aviation geeks will have plenty to follow after the 787 and A350 are in service!
-Rick
on July 17, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply
Rick, I totally agree with you, only the next generations engines aren't ready yet, which is what both Boeing and Airbus are waiting for.
on July 17, 2009 6:15 PM | Reply
For broader, more-detailed (if not so self-consciously "exclusive") accounts of Embraer philosophy re future jet and turborpop projects see Asian Aviation magazine (May 2009 issue) and aviationtoday.com (April 6, 2009).
Ain't competition wonderful?