“Our demand remains good and next year we are poised to repeat this year’s performance, or even fare a little better,” the company’s president for Commercial Aviation, Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva, said. “If you look at our backlog and compare it to Bombardier’s, you’ll be able to quickly see why they are cutting back production. They’re not selling their plane while we are selling ours,” he said in a telephone interview.
Embraer said yesterday it agreed to sell five E-195 regional jets to Deutsche Lufthansa AG valued at $200 million. At the end of second quarter, Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil-based Embraer had 261 firm orders worth $15.8 billion in its backlog. Since then, it has received a total of 15 firm orders for planes, including 10 from Kenya Airways on Aug. 30.
The market for regional jets is divided between Embraer and Bombardier. While the Brazilian manufacturer saw demand for 62 airplanes in the first half, the Canadian planemaker said Sept. 20 it was cutting production of its CRJ aircraft on faltering demand.
According to Souza, demand at Embraer has been held up amid the economic downturn, which has particularly affected the U.S. and Europe. American and European carriers’ need to renew aged fleets is driving business at the Brazilian company.
“Of course, if the market was one of strong economies, without this crisis, we could have been selling even more,” said Souza.