Embraer will not launch the new turboprop anytime soon. The Brazilian airframer is still undecided about the choice of the engines and will take time to evaluate options, CEO Francisco Gomes Neto said today during a press conference.
Last July at the Farnborough Airshow, President and CEO of Embraer Commercial Aviation, Arjan Meijer, said that the launch of the 70 to 90-seater could be expected at the 2023 Paris Airshow. But in December at the presentation of the latest Energia concepts, Embraer showed a slide on which the entry into service had slipped a few years beyond the initial target of 2027 and 2028. Already then, reports emerged that the selection of the engine was holding up a decision.
Gomes Neto said today: “We have suspended the development of the turboprop temporarily because we had a hard time deciding about the engines because of the technology constraints.” He didn’t elaborate further, but this is an indication that the proposals made by Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, and Rolls-Royce might not be aggressive or disruptive enough. Embraer said earlier that it wanted new-generation engines that could fly on 100 percent Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) and be adaptable to the use of hydrogen at a later stage. It isn’t known if this is the limiting factor.
A suspension doesn’t mean that Embraer has stopped the project, Gomes Neto added: “We still believe that the turboprop is a good product and that there is market for it. We haven’t stopped for good. We have several engineers still working on it, but we don’t see the launch happening on a short-term basis. We are still working on what the best engine for that aircraft would be.”
