Early-delivery Embraer 190-E2s will get replacement engines within two or three months of entering service, addressing a problem with the combustion liners in the Pratt & Whtiney PW1900G powerplants.
The Brazilian manufacturer says the engine swaps will be performed overnight to minimise operational interference.
"We will switch the engine... [within] two or three months of operation," Embraer's head of service and support Johann Bordais tells FlightGlobal. "There are a couple of implementations agreed by the customers, with no additional cost, no additional burden on the operations."
Bordais, speaking during the MRO Americas conference in Orlando, adds: "We are going to make it overnight. It's got to be." Embraer is "fully comfortable with this", he says.
P&W did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The engines must be swapped to address a combustion liner issue that also affected PW1100Gs, which power Airbus A320neo-family aircraft. Production of those engines also suffered slowdowns due to shortages of engine blades.
Bordais does not say how many aircraft will require engine replacements, but notes that Embraer has already receive engines with fixes at its production site in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil.
Embraer delivered the first E190-E2 to launch customer Wideroe on 4 April, and the company has said it expects to hand over five to 10 of the type this year.
The airframer has seen no other issues with PW1900Gs, a benefit Bordais attributes largely to the fact that Embraer was not a launch customer for P&W's line of geared turbofans.
"Most of the problems [Pratt] encountered on the other [engines] is not applicable, because the technology is a bit different," he says.
"That's the beauty of not being the launch customer on the engine. That's what we wanted. We did that on purpose," Bordais adds. "I think that we really made the right decision."
Source: Cirium Dashboard
