Estonian Air chooses Embraer to support its long-term strategy
06.02.2012, 13:44Estonian Air announced on Friday it had selected Embraer to supply 12 aircraft for the airline.
According to the airline, its current requirement is 12 Embraer E-Jet aircraft that would enable the company to increase flight frequencies, open new destinations and to operate at least double daily services to main destinations in Europe.
According to Estonian Air president Tero Taskila, Embraers suit for the company’s new strategy due to their efficiency, appropriate size and flying range. “Embraer has travel comforts that are comparable with that of a larger aircraft, the cabin is quiet, more spacious and has extra space for hand luggage,” he explained.
“Smaller airlines, such as Estonian Air has to be flexible. Embraer E-jet family offers range of sizes which allow us to also to offer aircraft similar size to existing smaller Boeing aircraft, but at the same time keep single fleet type efficiency and regional aircraft operating cost levels. Having a smaller and larger version of the same type of aircraft means significant economic efficiency for Estonian Air. We can change the aircraft size based on demand on routes, thus reducing the need to reducing the need to change amount of flight frequencies based on seasonality” added Taskila.
The first four 76-seater Embraer 170 will be delivered to Estonia in February 2012 under a lease agreement with Finnair. The aircraft will be used for replacing the existing Boeing aircraft and for growth. The company is currently negotiating with the manufacturer and lessors on the delivery schedules and conditions for the further eight aircraft. These aircraft will be a mix of E-175 and E-190 models, which offer 88 and 112 seats respectively. The aircraft are scheduled to enter the fleet in 2013-2015 time period.
In 2010, Embraer had a 70% share of the 60-120 seater aircraft market. The company has a wide customer base all over the world but most of Embraer’s clients are European airlines, for instance Flybe, Finnair, Lufthansa etc. Currently, Embraer has orders from Europe to produce over 260 aircraft. Embraer is based in South-America, Brazil.