Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer is positioning itself to sell more jets to Chinese buyers and work closer with Chinese suppliers, moves coming as Brazil’s government tightens ties with China – and US-China relations seem set to further sour.
But whether the Brazilian aircraft maker will actually land significant new sales of E-Jet E2 regional jets remains unclear, especially considering previous efforts to tap Chinese demand have had limited results.
During an investor day on 18 November in New York City, Embraer Commercial Aviation chief executive Arjan Meijer stressed the importance of China’s aviation market to the Brazilian company, describing the market as ripe with opportunity.
Notably, Meijer says Embraer’s E-Jet E2s are well suited size-wise to be operated by Chinese airlines alongside those carriers’ homegrown China-made jets.
Specifically, Meijer says E190-E2s and E195-E2s can fill a market niche not directly addressed by Chinese manufacturer Comac’s 80-100-seat C909 (recently renamed from the ARJ21) and Comac’s 160-190 seat C919. E190-E2s carry 97-114 passengers, while E195-E2s can seat 120-146 people.
“I think the benefit of the E2 family is that it is truly complementary to the Chinese product,” Meijer says. “The 190- and 195-E2 are two aircraft that fit nicely in the middle.”
He also calls the E190-E2 “a great aircraft for hot and high performance in China – so, for the connection of the Tibetan Plateau”.
Additionally, as part of its presence last week at the Zhuhai air show, Embraer hosted a “supplier day” for the purpose of “deepening collaboration with China’s aviation industry”. The company also noted Brazil’s strong diplomatic relations with China, its largest trading partner, according to the World Bank.
Those ties have since strengthened.
On 20 November, Reuters reported that Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Chinese president Xi Jinping – in Brazil for the G20 summit – struck some 40 new economic agreements related to sectors including farming, solar power, communications and energy.
At the same time, US-China trade relations remain troubled and could further deteriorate if president-elect Donald Trump makes good on his pledge to slap hefty additional tariffs on Chinese imports. Trump also says he will impose less-steep tariffs on imports from other countries, including US allies, moves some analysts warn could lead allies to align closer with China.
Whether Embraer’s optimistic talk will precede more E-Jet sales to Chinese buyers remains to be seen.
Aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia with AeroDynamic Advisory notes that Chinese diplomats have a long history of making lofty statements about economic cooperation, but “that the commercial reality is a lot thinner”.
He notes hype surrounding an agreement two decades ago under which Chinese firm AVIC would build ERJ-145s in China. That operation produced the jets only from 2002 to 2011, after which it transitioned to producing Embraer business jets before halting output for good in 2016.
“There’s a disconnect between the political figures at the top and the people in aviation, and they don’t always communicate,” Aboulafia says.
Embraer had some success selling first-generation E-Jets to Chinese airlines, landing deals for about 100 aircraft from carriers including China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Colorful Guizhou Airlines.
It has had less luck so far selling E2s in China, though lessor ICBC did order 10 E195-E2s.
E190-E2s and E195-E2s, however, are relatively new to the Chinese market, with China’s aviation regulator having only certificated the types 2022 and 2023, respectively.
