Embraer has scaled back its 2024 E-Jet delivery expectations due to engine shortages and other supply chain troubles that continue hampering the Brazilian manufacturer’s ability to speed up production.
“We have seen improvement in the supply chain but we are still facing challenges with specific groups of components, mainly engines and structural parts,” Embraer chief executive Francisco Gomes Neto told investors on 8 November.
“Our commercial aviation division is facing significant supply chain delays, mainly in the E2 assembly line,” he adds, speaking during Embraer’s third-quarter earnings call.
Due to those delays, Embraer now anticipates delivering 70-73 E-Jets this year, down from its previous estimate of 72-80 deliveries, it says.
Embraer has not adjusted its business jet delivery guidance, still anticipating handing over 125-135 of those aircraft – which include Phenom light and Praetor midsize jets – this year. The company turned a $182 million third-quarter profit, nearly three times its $64 million profit in the same period last year.
Gomes Neto’s comments reinforce the degree to which shortages within the commercial aerospace industry continue hampering new-jet production, even several years after such issues arose during post-pandemic recovery.
He attributes engine shortages to broadly increasing demand and does not cite specific engine types, though Embraer’s E190-E2 and E195-E2 are powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1000G-series geared turbofans (GTFs), which are now subject to a hugely disruptive global recall. Embraer’s other in-production commercial jet, the earlier-generation E175, has GE Aerospace CF34s.
P&W’s recall, the result of manufacturing errors affecting metallic components, has forced airlines to ground jets for lengthy inspections and driven up demand for spare GTFs. At the same time, Embraer and Airbus are seeking to boost production of new GTF-powered jets.
“The aggressive growth of all OEMs is pressuring the supply chain,” Gomes Neto says. “We are not getting the engines on time to finalise the assembly of our aircraft.”
Still, he says engine availability “is improving” and will continue doing so into 2025.
Embraer delivered 16 E-Jets during the third quarter and 42 in the first nine months of 2024, up from 39 deliveries in the first nine months of last year.
