Twenty Years of ERJ 145 Operations

TIN news:  As part of Embraer’s celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the start of commercial services of its 50-seat ERJ 145, the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer hosted a two-day Operators Conference in Rio de Janeiro that was attended by nearly 30 operators.

The regional jet took to the air on its maiden commercial flight on April 6, 1997, operated by former US carrier Continental Express.  Since then the ERJ 145 family has accumulated more than 27 million flying hours carrying almost 730 million passengers.  Over the last 20 years Embraer has delivered more than 1,200 aircraft based on the ERJ 145’s design, 75% of which have entered airline service while the remaining 25% have served the business aviation market through the Legacy 600/650, as well as various defence applications.

Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva, Embraer President and CEO remarked: “The ERJ 145 marked Embraer’s commercial renaissance, paving the way for the development of new programmes such as the E-Jet family, which moved the company into the lead of the commercial jet market for up to 130-seat aircraft.  Personally, I have a great affection for the programme, which brought me to Embraer.  I participated in practically all the jet’s sales campaigns.”