Brazil special: On the horizon

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12:00 17 Apr 2007

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Military transport aircraft. Last week, Flight International revealed that Embraer is "testing the concept" of a military transport aircraft to fill the gap between the Alenia C-27J and Lockheed Martin C-130J, based on the E-190 regional jet, but with a high wing and rear ramp and priced at around $50 million. New chief executive Fred Curado admits there would need to be a serious "demonstration of interest" in the market for the project to be taken further.
New business jets. Embraer is likely to slot a new business jet into the space between its Phenom 300 light jet and large-cabin Legacy 600, which is based on the ERJ-135. An all-new platform, it has not yet been decided whether to launch the aircraft as part of the Phenom family or as a sister to the Legacy. Also possible - although "not a priority", according to the company - are a "Phenom 200" between the two existing small jets and a smaller E-170-based version of its newly announced Lineage 1000, which is being developed from the E-190.
Short-haul narrowbody. It seems highly unlikely that Embraer will follow Bombardier and unveil a narrowbody aircraft in the CSeries segment. Collaboration with Airbus or Boeing seems a more likely prospect. "We would not do anything to compete with Airbus and Boeing," says Mauricio Botelho. "The most we could do is create an aircraft as good as theirs. It would make no sense for the airlines to buy it."

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