China will order 975 regional jets over 20 years: Embraer

Embraer released its outlook dedicated to the Chinese regional aviation market for 2011-2030 on the opening day of the 14th Beijing air show, 21-24 September. The outlook indicates that world aviation showed signs of recovery in 2010, after the economic crisis of 2008, with China emerging as one of the fastest growing and most important air transport markets.

In line with the expansion of China's aviation market and economic development, Embraer forecasts that 975 new regional jets will be delivered over the next 20 years, including 15 for 30-60 seats, 440 for 61-90 seats, and 520 for 91-120 seats.

This would account for around 13% of global market demands.

''China now boasts one of the greatest and most vibrant economies in the world, which fosters the robust development of its regional aviation market. With over ten years of relentless efforts, Embraer is now the major supplier of airplanes up to 120 seats in this country. We have full confidence that Embraer's commercial jets, with versatile business models and right-sized seat capability, will satisfy the demands of this market. Meanwhile, we will continuously improve our customer support and services to better meet this market's needs,'' said Guan Dongyuan, president of Embraer China.

The outlook also contains an in-depth analysis of how regional aviation will transform the economy and connectivity of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where two Chinese E-Jets operators are deploying Embraer 190 fleets, to showcase the power of E-Jets to unlock the region's enormous potential, which could serve as a blueprint for regional air transport development in other parts of China.

In the first half of 2011, Embraer got two Chinese airlines as new E-Jets customers, namely China Southern Airlines and Hebei Airlines.

Since the first aircraft was delivered to this market in 2000, the company has delivered around 90 commercial jets to the region, representing over 70% of aircraft up to 120 seats in the Chinese market.