Brazilian planemaker Embraer disclosed its 2019 orders and deliveries this week. At 198, total deliveries were up compared to 181 in 2018 but this is only thanks to the higher output from the executive jets division. Let’s have a look.
On multiple occasions last year, Embraer said it expected to deliver between 85 and 95 commercial aircraft as the airframer is in a transition phase between the trusted E1-family and ramping-up of production of the new E2s. At 89, deliveries were right in between this guidance and one shy of 2018’s 90 commercial aircraft deliveries. By comparison: 2017 saw 101 deliveries.
What did Embraer deliver in 2019 and how does this fair against the previous year? Most were E175s: 67, exactly the same number as in 2018. It delivered 5 E190s (13 in 2018) and 3 E195s (5), while no more E170s were built and delivered.
The introduction of the E2-family has been slow and careful with only 4 E190-E2 delivered in 2018. This has improved last year but still at a very modest rate. Deliveries of the E190-E2 and the bigger E195-E2 were evenly split at 7 each.
As Airbus uses to say, they were ‘backloaded’ with most of the aircraft departing Sao Jose dos Campos during Q4. Of the seven E195-E2s delivered through the year, six were in the last quarter, with 4 out of 7 E190-E2.
Four E195-E2s went to lessor AerCap and subsequently to Azul, three to Binter Canarias. Of the E190-E2, Helvetic received 2, Kirbati 1 and AerCap 4 aircraft.
Helvetic received two E190-E2s last year. (Richard Schuurman)
Orders and options
The commercial aircraft order book grew by 59 to 1.917 from 1.858 the previous year, with options at 416 up from 365.
By type, the E175 continues to be the best-selling Embraer. Thanks to orders from SkyWest/American Airlines, the order book grew to 815 from 771, with options to 308 from 250. The backlog is down from 204 to 181 deliveries. If Embraer continues to build some 60 aircraft a year it still has some three years of work on the E175 to go before orders have dried up. Unless it sells more.
E190-orders only marginally grew from 566 to 568. In 2018, there were 16 options in the books but they have all been either canceled or converted. This leaves only 4 E190s to be delivered in 2020 before the production of the type will end. The same already has happened to the E170 as all 191 on order have been delivered and the option book is empty. The situation is identical with the E195: all 172 have been delivered, no options. The E175-E2 is listed without any orders and options.
The E190-E2 accounts for 27 firm orders in the book, 20 fewer than in 2018 due to cancelations and conversions. Options remained constant at 61. This means the backlog is only 16 for this brand-new type, which is really disappointing.
The market trend of upsizing seems to be partially reflected in the E195-E2 “Profit Hunter” order book. Firm orders have grown from 111 to 144, options and purchase rights from 32 to 47. The backlog stands at 137, which is good but could do with some extra aircraft.
Embraer’s CEO John Slattery and his sales teams are trying hard to get deals done in Africa and Asia. They have done some business at last November’s Dubai Air Show, but none this month in Singapore. Embraer could find itself in the same situation Bombardier was in before Airbus bought the C Series program: the market is in a wait-and-see situation before it commits to the aircraft. The A220 has been pretty successful since July 2018. In Embraer’s case, the market seems to be waiting for the outcome of the commercial aircraft joint-venture with Boeing to form Boeing Brasil, with the European Union requesting additional information before it approves the agreement.
The Phenom 300 reached 51 deliveries in 2019. (Embraer)
Executive aircraft
In 2019, Embraer delivered 109 executive jets. Of these, 62 were light jets, down from 64 in 2018. It delivered 51 Phenom 300s (53 the previous year) and 11 100s, identical to 2018.
Large business jets stood at 47 deliveries versus 27 in 2018. Of the Legacy-range deliveries, 15 were 450s (14), 11 500s (9), and 5 650s (4). Like with the E2 commercial aircraft, many deliveries were in Q4: 10 out of 15 450s reached their new owners between October and December.
The new Praetor was well-received and boosted deliveries, with 13 600s and 3 500s, capturing already one-third on the business segment in its first year.
