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Also executive vice president of finance and investor relations, Filippo reported that Embraer’s commercial division exceeded expectations by delivering 101 aircraft and that deliveries of 120 (82 light and 38 large) executive jets were on target. Both divisions’ deliveries were up from 2014, when the commercial and executive jet totals were 92 and 116 (92 light and 24 large), respectively.
New operators of the company’s line of E-Jet narrow-body medium-range twins confirmed their “popularity,” boosting firm orders to 1,704. Filippo, speaking through a translator, highlighted the rollout a week earlier of the first of three second-generation E-Jets, which the company has said would position Embraer better to compete with Bombardier’s two C Series aircraft.
The executive jet business remains strong and the 38 large platforms delivered last year included two Lineage 1000s to customers in the United States. Filippo said Embraer had added an executive jet to its order books for each one delivered last year, and that its Phenom 300 posted the most deliveries in its market segment for the third consecutive year. That, he added, was “a very important landmark that confirms the quality and recognition of this project in the market.” He also said that three Legacy 450s had been delivered after certification last year.
In its military portfolio, “the cycle of development continues” on the KC-390, which Embraer has pitched as the Royal Canadian Air Force’s next fixed-wing search and rescue platform. Filippo suggested that some elements of the program had been rescheduled because of governments’ “capacity to pay,” but he still expected deliveries to begin in 2017. “This year and next year . . . are important years for the development of this product.”
The high-wing twin jet KC-390 is part of what he said is Embraer’s determination to reduce its dependence on the civil market, where commercial sales have accounted for 56 per cent of the company’s total revenues, compared with 30 per cent from executive jets and 13 per cent from military sales.
