ERJ-145 approval follows Lufthansa 747-400 deal as manufacturer widens targets
Honeywell is studying the possibility of offering a second source of brakes on the Bombardier CRJ family after breaking Goodrich's stranglehold on the Boeing 747-400 and Embraer ERJ-145 family.
The company announced at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) annual convention in Las Vegas last week that it had won certification of its carbon heat-sink for the ERJ-145, for which Goodrich is Embraer's sole-source provider.
Honeywell has Trans States Airlines of St Louis as a launch customer and will be retrofitting the carrier's 22 ERJ-145s over roughly the next year.
"The product is already in production and we will start retrofitting Trans States straightaway," Honeywell vice-president and general manager aircraft landing systems Peg Billson told Flight International during the NBAA convention. "The results are at least a 20% increase in life and significant improvements in cost-effectiveness depending on exactly how the airplane is used."
She says there is a "high degree" of interest from other carriers, but any who specify Honeywell brakes on new-build aircraft will have to accept them from Embraer with Goodrich units and let Honeywell retrofit them.
The certification comes straight after Honeywell's deal with Lufthansa to develop wheels and brakes for the 747-400 as a second source to retrofit the carrier's fleet, which it will then offer to other carriers. Goodrich has a programme lifetime agreement with Boeing as sole-source on the 747-400.
Honeywell was heavily focused on larger aircraft when the regional jets came to prominence and is now looking at the Bombardier CRJ and Embraer ERJ-135, neither of which it equips, as its next brake targets.
Billson says: "On the CRJ fleet a similar approach might make sense. We are evaluating the opportunity and the level of customer interest."
KIERAN DALY / LAS VEGAS
Source: Flight International
