Fourth Embraer E190-E2 Prototype Joins Flight Test Fleet

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Embraer says its fourth E190-E2 prototype has officially joined the test team with a two-hour flight last week. The petite Brazilian twin is the most refined of the four siblings and will be used specifically for interior tests: cabin evacuation, environmental comfort and internal noise. The three aircraft already in testing have accumulated 650 flight hours, and Luis Carlos Affonso, COO of Embraer Commercial Aviation, says the advanced certification tests—high-speed flying qualities, flutter, natural ice and cold soak reliability—are coming soon. The company says the production aircraft are on track for delivery in the first half of 2018 to launch customer Widere, a Norwegian regional airline.

The E2 family is facing a troubled start in the U.S. market. SkyWest Airlines had placed an order for 100 of the smaller, E175-E2 variant in June 2013, with the expectation that major airline scope clauses would be modified to fit the airplane. Agreements between the pilot unions and the certain mainline carriers, for whom the regionals fly, prohibit the regional airlines from using aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight above 86,000 pounds. The current model E175 LR has a maximum takeoff weight of 85,520 pounds. The new E175-E2 is expected to be certificated with a maximum takeoff weight of 88,185. The SkyWest order for the E175-E2, as well as that airline’s order for the Mitsubishi MRJ90, are likely both either subject to cancellation at low-cost or contingent on the airline getting relief from the scope clause.

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