Embraer is continuing to analyse a possible re-entry into the commercial turboprop market, which could give rise to up to a four member family.
Last month Embraer president and CEO Frederico Fleury Curado revealed that the Brazilian manufacturer is analysing the potential for a new commercial turboprop, which could provide an eventual substitution for its small regional jets.
Although the study remains very much in its infancy, Embraer market intelligence VP Luiz Sergio Chiessi says the manufacturer is likely to develop a family of aircraft if it decides to proceed with the turboprop project.
Speaking to ATI during a media briefing in Paris, Chiessi said: “I believe that everything nowadays has to be a family - a family of two, three or four [aircraft].
“It has to be a family because it offers something more effective for the airline and for the research, design, certification and production [process]. We are at the very early stages of looking at this segment.”
Chiessi emphasises that Embraer is analysing a number of options alongside the turboprop project, adding that it is too early to even list the other initiatives. He says: “It depends on the evolution of the market place and where the opportunities will be.”
The analysis has been made possible by the E-Jets family consuming less of the manufacturer’s engineering resources.
Despite the operating cost pressure which has been placed on 50-seat jets, Chiessi believes the aircraft still have a role to play both in the USA and in other countries to support their hub and spoke systems.
He says: “If you kill small capacity aircraft, you kill the connections. They are saying that the RJ50 will be banned out of the USA [due to costs]. No way. Small aircraft are more part of the solution than the problem when you are in a crisis.”
But the Embraer executive does see reductions in the US 50-seat jet fleet in favour of larger regional aircraft, with up to 250 destined to gradually leave the market over the next five years as restrictive scope clauses continue to be relaxed.
Chiessi says: “They will move to secondary markets. Mexico is one, CIS another big possibility and also Africa. I bet there will be a natural flow of RJ50s from the USA to Russia and the surrounding countries.
“China is not a mature market, but it is growing into a one. We believe it will almost double over the years to come, because there is a need for a feeding system into the hubs, like in Europe and the USA.”
Embraer has ceased Brazilian production of the ERJ-135 and -145, although the assembly line is still manufacturing the ERJ-135-based Legacy business jet. New ERJ-145s are being produced by Harbin Embraer in China, which currently has 43 aircraft backlog, representing three-years’ production.
Source: flightglobal.com's sister premium news site Air Transport Intelligence news
Source: Flight International
