Embraer has given a sneak preview of its full-freighter E1 that it plans to launch as a conversion program around the middle of 2022. The brief preview was offered in an end-of-year video message of Arjan Meijer, CEO of Commercial Aviation. Embraer gives sneak preview of full freighter E-jet. The video showed two options: a full freighter with what looks like four blocks of so-called Unit Load Devices (ULDs) or containers. The four ULDs of an estimated two to three meters each are spaced over the full length of the cabin of an E195 (see the main picture). In a second option, Embraer has turned the aircraft into a Combi version, with eleven rows of passenger seats or 44 in total that extend to half the wing. After a cargo bulkhead, there is space for two ULDs. The status of the animated pictures in the video isn’t clear, but it is the first time that Embraer has shown details of its cargo E-jet since revealing at the Dubai Airshow in November that it will enter the freighter market. Meijer and Vice President of Marketing, Rodrigo Silva e Souza, said then that they forecast a market for 700 converted and new freighters in the E-jet segment. As Arjan Meijer told AirInsight in a show review interview: “We have looked at it for a long time, but the E-jets were a bit young. It was still expensive to do a conversion. We now believe that the aircraft is reaching an age that it economically makes sense. Plus, we see a huge cargo up-tick with an e-commerce market that is ever emerging. So cargo operators are looking at ways to fly deeper into the veins of the network. That’s where the size of an E-jet is just missing in the range. There is an ATR and then you go to narrowbodies, there is nothing in the middle.” Still from the Embraer video showing the Combi-version of the E195. (Embraer) Embraer said it needed another six months to work on the freighter conversion program for the E190 and E195 and possibly, later on, launch a freighter version of the E190-E2 and E195-E2. After launch, it will take another two years before the type will be certified and available for operations. Not clear from the graphic is the type of containers that Embraer has in mind. The most popular ULD is the LD-3, which fits in the belly hold of most widebodies and is also loaded on the main deck. Widebodies use two coupled LD-3s, but a single container can be loaded on the main deck of a single-aisle aircraft. Even the ATR 72-600F can accommodate the LD-3. Airbus and Boeing use different specs of the LD-3. The ones in the Embraer video with their contoured shape look like an M-1H version, but again, these are used on widebodies like the 747F and 777F. The E-jets would need a much smaller version to fit the cabin. The market size of 700 smaller single-aisle freighters that Embraer is forecasting isn’t confirmed by other airframers. Both Airbus and Boeing forecast a huge demand for converted and new freighters until 2040. Boeing sees growth from 2.010 freighters now to 3.435 aircraft in 2040, including 890 new widebodies. Airbus expects demand to grow from 2.030 to 2.980, including 880 new ones. But as Bob Lange, Airbus Head of Business Analysis, said during a recent ISTAT webcast, Airbus figures don’t include the smaller single-aisle aircraft as the OEM has no market share here.
