The Boeing logo is displayed on a screen, at the NYSE in New York
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian antitrust regulator Cade on Monday approved Boeing Co’s <BA> purchase of Embraer SA’s <ERJ> commercial aviation division without restrictions, according to a statement on the agency’s website.
Cade’s top administrative council could still call for a reconsideration of the case, putting the matter to a vote.
The companies welcomed the move on Monday, with Boeing saying it remained confident of getting approval from the European Commission, the last hurdle to the transaction.
The European Union has set an April 30 deadline to decide on the deal.
Boeing has offered to pay $4.2 billion for 80% of Embraer’s commercial jet division, which builds passenger jets in the 70- to 150-seat segment.
That puts it in direct competition with next-generation jets designed by Bombardier Inc <BBD-B.TO> and acquired by Europe’s Airbus SE <EADSY>, which rebranded them the A220 program.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; additional reporting by Kanishka Singh; Writing by Jake Spring; Editing by Sandra Maler, Marguerita Choy and Aditya Soni)
E2-195 plane with Brazil’s No. 3 airline Azul SA logo is seen during a launch event in Sao Jose dos Campos
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Brazilian low-cost carrier GOL, which has 130 of Boeing’s grounded 737 MAX jets on order, expects to be flying the jet by April and hopes to secure a compensation deal within months, chief financial officer Richard Lark said on Monday.
“We at GOL are planning April” for the jet’s return to service, Lark told journalists. He said he expected to finalize a deal with Boeing within months that would “make investors whole” for losses associated with the delivery delays.
(Reporting by Conor Humphries; editing by David Evans)
FILE PHOTO: An employee works near a Boeing 737 Max aircraft at Boeing’s 737 Max production facility in Renton
São José dos Campos, Brazil, December 30th, 2019 – Air Kiribati, the flag carrier of the Republic of Kiribati, received today its first E190-E2 jet. Embraer announced the contract with the Government of Kiribati, in partnership with its national airline, Air Kiribati, in December 2018. The airline ordered two E190-E2s and has purchase rights for two more.
“Aviation is critical for any island nation and Kiribati is no exception. Our Government has made the conscious decision to take into our hands the opportunity to unlock economic prosperity for our people and our nation through the purchase of these two aircraft,” said Hon. Willie Tokataake, Minister for Information, Communication, Transport and Tourism Development of the Kiribati Government. “The arrival of our first jet today is the culmination of three years of vision, strategic thought, government focus, research, evaluation, hard work, commitment, partnership and a good measure of problem solving.”
Air Kiribati is the launch operator for the E190-E2 in Asia Pacific. The aircraft will be configured in a dual class layout seating 92 passengers in total, with 12 seats in business class and 80 seats in economy class. Located in the central Pacific, Air Kiribati can now fly longer domestic and international routes than it currently does with its turboprop fleet.
“This is first E190-E2 delivered in the Pacific region,” said Cesar Pereira, Asia Pacific Vice President, Embraer Commercial Aviation. “We’re are honored that Air Kiribati selected the E190-E2 as the best fit for the airline’s challenging flying environment. The E190-E2 has cutting-edge technology and is the most fuel efficient and environmentally-friendly single aisle jet in the world. These attributes are extremely important for Kiribati.”
With a maximum range of up to 2,850 nautical miles, the E190-E2 can serve destinations throughout the vast expanse of Kiribati, including nonstop from Tarawa to Kiritimati (Christmas) Island, one of the most challenging routes in the Pacific. The current domestic flight from Tarawa to Kiritimati requires an international stopover in Fiji.
Spanning four time zones and comprised of more than 30 islands, Kiribati is the only country in the world to be in all four hemispheres. Embraer has been present in the Pacific since the first Bandeirante was delivered to a customer in Australia in 1978. The company continues to support operators across Oceania more than 40 years later.
The E190-E2 is the first of three new aircraft types in the E-Jets E2 family, developed to succeed the first-generation E-Jets. Compared to the first-generation E190, the E190-E2 burns 17.3% less fuel and nearly 10% less than its direct competitor. This makes it the most efficient single-aisle aircraft on the market. The E190-E2 generates significant savings for airlines in terms of maintenance costs. It has the longest maintenance intervals – 10,000 flight hours for basic checks and no calendar limit in typical E-Jets utilization. This means an additional 15 days of aircraft utilization over a period of ten years.
The E2 cockpit features advanced Honeywell Primus Epic 2 integrated avionics. Combined with closed-loop fly-by-wire controls, the systems work together to improve aircraft performance, decrease pilot workload and enhance flight safety. From a passenger perspective, the E2 cabin features a comfortable two-by-two layout. The absence of a middle seat enables passengers to have an enjoyable flight experience with more legroom and additional luggage storage space.
Embraer is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial aircraft up to 150 seats with more than 100 customers across the world. For the E-Jets program alone, Embraer has logged more than 1,800 orders and 1,500 aircraft have been delivered. Today, E-Jets are flying in the fleets of 80 customers from 50 countries. The versatile 70 to 150-seat family is flying with low-cost airlines as well as with regional and mainline network carriers.
PRYCBK Delta airlines airplane preparing for landing in the blue sky at day time in international airport
Dec 11 (Reuters) – Brazil’s GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA said late Tuesday that Delta Air lines Inc has sold more than 32.9 million shares it held in the company, a few months after the Atlanta-based airline announced its decision to exit stake.
Delta’s decision to sell its stake was expected, following its acquisition of a 20% stake in GOL competitor LATAM Airlines Group SA for $1.9 billion in September.
Delta did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The deal with LATAM Airlines was Delta’s largest since it merged with Northwest Airlines a decade ago, and ended the Chilean carrier’s ties with American Airlines Group.
Delta’s deal with Latin America’s largest carrier would give it a bigger footprint in the region, where American Airlines has been leading the charts.
American Airlines confirmed in October it was negotiating a possible partnership with GOL, after a newspaper reported that the two companies were in contact the same day that Delta bought its stake in LATAM.
The structure or content of any potential partnership was unclear, Brazil’s Valor Economico said at the time.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
SKY, a Chilean-based ultra-low-cost carrier, has signed a Purchase Agreement with Airbus for 10 A321XLRs. The airline will expand its international route network with the new aircraft.
The A321XLR is the next evolutionary step in the A320neo/A321neo Family, meeting market requirements for increased range and payload in a single-aisle aircraft. The A321XLR will deliver an unprecedented narrow-body airliner range of up to 4,700nm, with 30% lower fuel consumption per seat compared with previous-generation competitor jets, allowing airlines to expand networks by making new longer routes economically viable.
“This new aircraft fleet will allow us to expand our offer of international and wide-ranging routes, always under our successful low cost model and its extremely convenient ticket prices. Now passengers can enjoy new and very attractive destinations on the most modern airplanes in the market,” said Holger Paulmann, CEO of SKY.
Arturo Barreira, President of Airbus Latin America, said: “We are delighted that SKY has selected the A321XLR to further expand its fleet of all Airbus aircraft. The A321XLR will allow SKY to offer its customers new destinations, such as direct flights from Santiago in Chile to Miami in the U.S.”
According to the latest Airbus Global Market Forecast (GMF), Latin America will need 2,700 new aircraft in the next 20 years, more than double today’s fleet. Passenger traffic in Latin America has doubled since 2002 and is expected to continue growing over the next two decades. Specifically in Chile, traffic is expected to increase from 0.89 trips per capita to 2.26 trips in 2038.
In parallel to the growing fleet, according to Airbus’ latest GMF, there will be a need for 47,550 new pilots and 64,160 technicians to be trained over the next 20 years in Latin America. To cover this necessity SKY also selected Airbus as its flight training provider, making the airline the launch customer for the new Airbus Chile Training Centre. The centre will offer flight crew training for Chilean pilots and will include a full-flight A320 simulator.
SKY has been an Airbus customer since 2010 and became an all-Airbus operator in 2013. The airline’s fleet of 23 A320 Family aircraft serves national and international routes connecting Chile to Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay.
Airbus has sold 1,200 aircraft, has a backlog of more than 600 and more than 700 in operation throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, representing a 60% market share of the in-service fleet. Since 1994, Airbus has secured nearly 70% of net orders in the region.
BRUSSELS, Dec 5 (Reuters) – An association representing minority investors in Brazil is lobbying European antitrust regulators to spike a deal between planemakers Embraer SA and Boeing Co, calling it a killer acquisition.
Aurelio Valporto, the head of minority investor association Abradin, said the European Commission should block Boeing’s proposed $4.2 billion purchase of 80% Embraer’s commercial passenger jet division or demand hefty concessions.
“What will be left from Embraer won’t survive, and even if it was possible to survive, Embraer wouldn’t be able to produce any aircraft with 50 passengers or more,” Valporto said in an interview late on Wednesday, arguing that Embraer and Boeing planes compete in the marketplace.
Embraer’s commercial jet division focuses on the 70 to 150-seat segment, competing directly with the CSeries jets designed by Bombardier Inc, a division that was bought by Europe’s Airbus SE.
Boeing aims to take control of Embraer’s commercial jet business, its most profitable, to compete directly with Airbus in the market for planes with fewer than 150 seats.
Embraer said in a statement on Thursday that the deal will “serve the interests of shareholders by enabling Embraer to expand markets and increase sales.” The deal was backed by around 97% of Embraer’s shareholders earlier this year.
Valporto complained about the deal to the European Commission two months ago, saying it hurt competition in the Brazilian aerospace industry, and on Wednesday took his grievance to antitrust officials in Brasilia.
The deal has already been approved by regulators in the United States, China and Japan. If it closes, Embraer will receive dividends from its remaining 20% stake in the commercial jet business, but will have to rely more heavily on its business jets and defense divisions to turn a profit. Those two divisions have posted losses in recent quarters.
The European Commission, which launched a full-scale investigation into the deal in October, declined to comment.
Boeing said it and Embraer had been engaged with the European Commission and other global regulatory authorities since late last year.
“We continue to co-operate with the European Commission and CADE as they assess our transaction and look forward to a positive resolution,” a spokesman for the company said.
The EU has voiced concerns the deal would remove Embraer, the world’s third-largest commercial aircraft maker, from the industry, an indication that it may demand significant concessions from Boeing.
The EU regulator halted its investigation last month while waiting for Boeing to submit data on the deal.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels Additional reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun in Sao Paulo Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Matthew Lewis)
RESTON, Va., Nov. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) announced today that the Gulfstream G500 has been delivered to its first European customer. An undisclosed Western-Europe-based charter operator took delivery of the aircraft at Gulfstream Aerospace headquarters in Savannah, Georgia.
The G500 earned certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency on Oct. 11 and is in service in North America, Brazil, the Middle East and Europe.
“We are excited about making G500 deliveries to Europe,” said Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream. “Since the introduction of the jet in 2014, customers around the world remain impressed and enthusiastic about the innovative cabin, next-generation technology, including the award-winning Symmetry Flight Deck, and high performance, speed and range capability of the aircraft. As the G500 fleet continues to grow in Europe, and around the world, its advanced technology raises the bar for business aviation.”
The G500 can travel 4,400 nautical miles/8,149 kilometers at Mach 0.90 and 5,200 nm/9,630 km at Mach 0.85. Its Symmetry Flight Deck features the first electronically linked active control sidesticks in civil aviation, the most extensive use of touchscreen technology in business aviation and a data concentration network, all of which streamline operations and reduce pilot workload.
Passengers also benefit from technology in the cabin. Along with award-winning, bespoke interior design, the G500 offers the Gulfstream cabin experience of 100 percent fresh air, 14 Gulfstream panoramic windows, a low cabin altitude and whisper-quiet sound levels.
São José dos Campos, November 21, 2019 – Binter of Spain celebrates the incorporation of the first E195-E2 jet into its fleet at a ceremony held today at Embraer’s main facility in São José dos Campos. The airline is the first European customer to receive the biggest of the three members of the E-Jets E2 family of commercial aircraft. Binter has placed firm orders for five E195-E2s.
“We’re extremely proud to deliver the first E195-E2 in Europe to such an accomplished regional airline. Binter will showcase the very best of the airplane as it expands its network to more cities,” said John Slattery, President & CEO, Embraer Commercial Aviation.
“Today´s event is very special for all of us, who are part of Binter. This Embraer E195-E2 aircraft is an important step in the history of our company that will become as well a jet operator. This new milestone, which coincides with the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Binter, adds more advances to the ones that we have made in recent years, and that help to pursue our main objective: the improvement of the connecting of the Canary Islands, both inter-island and with external destinations,” said Binter’s President, Pedro Agustín del Castillo.
The acquisition of the E195-E2s is part of Binter’s overall fleet modernization initiative. Each aircraft is configured with 132 seats in single class. The new aircraft will be deployed across a route network that includes eight cities in the Canary Islands, nine cities in Africa and two in Portugal. Last year, Binter carried 3.6 million passengers.
In April, the E195-E2 received its Type Certificate from three regulatory authorities: ANAC, the Brazilian Civil Aviation Agency (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil); the FAA (U.S. Federal Aviation Administration) and EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency).
Flight tests confirmed that the aircraft is better than its original specification. Fuel consumption is 1.4% lower than expected – that’s 25.4% less fuel per seat compared to the current-generation E195. Maintenance costs are 20% lower. The E195-E2 is the most environmentally-friendly aircraft in its class, having the lowest levels of external noise and emissions. The cumulative margin to ICAO Stage IV noise limit ranges from 19 to 20 EPNdB, 4.0 EPNdB better than its direct competitor.
Like the E190-E2, the E195-E2 has the longest maintenance intervals in the single-aisle jet category with 10,000 flight hours for basic checks and no calendar limit for typical E-Jet operations. This means an additional 15 days of aircraft utilization over a period of ten years compared to current generation E-Jets.
The E195-E2 features new ultra-high bypass ratio engines, a completely new wing, full fly-by-wire controls and new landing gear. Compared to the first-generation E195, 75% of aircraft systems are new. The E195-E2 has 3 additional seat rows. The cabin can be configured with 120 seats in two classes, or up to 146-seats in a single class layout.
Embraer is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial aircraft up to 150 seats with more than 100 customers from all over the world. For the E-Jets program alone, Embraer has logged more than 1,800 orders and 1,500 aircraft have been delivered. Today, E-Jets are flying in the fleets of 75 customers from 50 countries. The versatile 70 to 150-seat family is flying with low-cost airlines as well as with regional and mainline carriers.
BRASILIA (Reuters) – A Chinese antitrust regulator has approved Boeing Co’s <BA> deal to buy a controlling stake in the commercial jet division of Brazilian planemaker Embraer <ERJ>, according to a statement on the regulator’s website.
The Boeing-Embraer deal appears on a list dated Nov. 19 of transactions “approved unconditionally” that is posted to the website of the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation’s anti-monopoly department.
The document gives no further details, only saying that the case was adjudicated 10 days earlier on Nov. 9.
Boeing, the world’s largest planemaker, has been seeking to finalize its purchase of 80% of Embraer’s commercial jet division in a bid to compete with Europe’s Airbus <AIR.PA> in the market for planes with fewer than 150 seats.
China’s approval comes as EU regulators have delayed a decision until both companies provide additional documents, which Embraer has said it is trying to do as soon as possible.
The companies originally said they expected to close the deal this year.
(Reporting by Jake Spring; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
The aircraft is the first of 13 ordered and will allow the company to simultaneously grow its high-density domestic routes and reduce seat-cost
SÃO PAULO, Nov. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Azul S.A., “Azul”, (AZUL), the largest airline in Brazil by number of cities served and daily departures, receives today the first Airbus A321neo ever delivered in Brazil. Configured in a 214 seat layout and powered by CFM International’s Leap-1A engines, the aircraft is the first of 13 ordered. The airline has chosen the A321neo to fly its high-density domestic routes and will provide customers with an industry leading inflight experience, including larger overhead bins, mood-lighting and individual touch-screen inflight entertainment.
“The A321neo is an important milestone for Azul once it will allow the company to simultaneously grow its route network and become more efficient. Customers will enjoy the extra legroom of our Espaco Azul product as well as free unlimited snacks and drinks. The new Airbus will also feature individual seat-back touch screen entertainment with stored content and soon to come streaming live-TV and Wifi”, says John Rodgerson, CEO of Azul.
About Azul Azul S.A., the largest airline in Brazil by number of flight departures and cities served, offers 910 daily flights to 114 destinations. With an operating fleet of 133 aircraft and more than 12,000 crewmembers, the Company has a network of 237 non-stop routes as of September 30, 2019. In 2019, Azul was awarded best airline in Latin America by TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice and also best regional carrier in South America for the ninth consecutive time by Skytrax. In 2018, the Company was elected best airline by Kayak’s Flight Hacker Guide. Azul also ranked as most on-time airline in Brazil in 2018 according to FlightStats. For more information visit www.voeazul.com.br/ir
