Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras has officially become the first airline to take delivery of the new Embraer E195-E2.
Brazil’s third largest carrier will soon be the global launch operator of Embraer’s latest jet, when it puts the first aircraft into commercial service. A delivery ceremony was held in São José dos Campos on Thursday, where the E195-E2 was handed over to Azul, which is leasing the aircraft from Ireland-based lessor AerCap. The jet, registered as PR-PJN and painted in a special livery, is likely to have its delivery flight to Azul during the coming days.
While this aircraft is leased and not directly ordered by Azul, the airline does have a number of direct orders with the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer. In total, Azul has 57 E195-E2’s on order, of which only six are leases.
The E195-E2 is the largest aircraft in Embraer’s E2-jet family. It is a new version of the previous E195, with improvements including new wings and the new Pratt & Whitney PW1900G engines. A slightly different version of this engine is also being used on some competing aircraft types, including the Airbus A220 and A320neo families. The jet can seat up to 146 passengers in a dense layout. Azul configures the E195-E2 with a total of 136 economy seats.
Two smaller versions of the E2-Jet family are also offered by Embraer. The E190-E2, which was first delivered to launch customer Widerøe in April 2018, and the smaller E175-E2, which is due to have its first flight later this year.
Apart from its latest aircraft type, Azul currently operates 57 previous generation Embraer E-Jets (E190 and E195), along with Airbus A320neo for short- and medium-haul flights, ATR 72s used on regional connections, as well as Airbus A330-200 and A330-900neo for long-haul routes. The latter wide-body jet, the A330neo, was delivered to Azul just a few months ago.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
