PAUL LEWIS / WASHINGTON DC
Embraer has secured a second major US airline deal in as many months with JetBlue Airways ordering 100 Embraer 190s for delivery by 2011 and taking options on another 100. The order launches the fourth and final member of the new Brazilian jet family and potentially opens up a market outside the regional realm in the form of low-cost carriers.
Deliveries will begin in August 2005, with GE Capital Aviation Services providing financing for the first 30 aircraft for delivery through to 2007. Fifteen of these will come from the leasing company's existing 170/190 order, leaving Embraer with a net addition of 85 aircraft. The total 170/190 orderbook now stands at 234 aircraft, plus 289 options. Last month US Airways ordered 55 smaller 170/175s and took options on another 50.
Embraer has accelerated development of the 98- to 108-seat 190 by six months, leaping ahead of the larger 108- to 118-seat 195, which, as a result of launch customer Swiss delaying deliveries, will not enter service before mid-2006. Embraer has rejigged its flight-test programme and the first planned 195 will now be completed as a 190, by swapping out fuselage plugs, and will fly in February.
Embraer is planning three 190 test aircraft and one 195, which is due to fly in September 2004 and, through a high degree of systems commonality, will contribute to the 100-seater certification programme. The first 78-seat 175 has completed its first engine run ahead of its planned July first flight.
JetBlue has opted for the higher- gross-weight 190LR version with a maximum range of 4,260km (2,300nm) and plans to use it to supplement its larger Airbus A320s on existing routes and develop new services. The carrier operates 41 A320s and has 111 on order. Despite the commonality offered by the shrink 107-seat A318, the 190 "was the best aircraft," says David Neeleman, JetBlue chief executive.
Source: Flight International
