Embraer is pressing ahead with its plans for a new turboprop airliner and is eyeing a programme launch next year.
Arjan Meijer, chief executive of Embraer Commercial Aviation, says the airframer has been “more and more vocal” in recent months over its intentions for the market.
“Embraer is still very much focused on the segment. We are still working on a turboprop and hope to launch the programme in 2022,” he told a webinar today to celebrate the first delivery of an E195-E2 to Helvetic Airways.
Last year, Embraer showed updated renderings of its design that now shares the same fuselage cross-section as its current E-Jet family.
This, says Meijer, will allow it to “bring much better passenger appeal to the turboprop segment”.
Service entry is likely in the 2027-2028 timeframe, he says. “It will really stand apart from the products out there today.”
Meijer says Embraer has also “selected the turboprop as the platform for the future”, allowing it to add “more sustainable solutions” to later iterations.
That does not imply that the airframer is moving away from jets, but that it views the turboprop as an ideal fit for new power or propulsion technologies.
Discussions with several potential partners on the project are “progressing well”, Meijer adds.
