France’s Amelia Bringing In E-Jets To ‘Fill The Gap’

French charter and ACMI specialist Regourd Aviation, which operates under the Amelia and Amelia International brands, plans to expand its fleet with the delivery of two Embraer E190s from lessor CDB Aviation.

Regourd also operates a single scheduled route, from Pau, in southwest France, to Paris Orly. The airline’s fleet consists of Airbus A319s, A320s, A321s and ERJ145s. A LearJet 45 is used for medevac work.

The two Embraers “will fill the gap between our 50-seaters and the Airbus A319,” Amelia CEO Alain Regourd said. “We are working hard to start the operations of these aircraft at the beginning of the summer.”

The two E190s will be operated in a two-class configuration, with six business-class and 92 economy-class seats. “For the time being it’s two classes because we’re not changing the [previous] layout,” Amelia deputy CEO Marc Verspyck said.

The two aircraft are currently in China undergoing maintenance but will be inducted into the fleet by the end of the second quarter 2025.

“We believe there’s a gap to fill in terms of ACMI business with a 100-seater. There are one or two operators in Europe proposing this capacity,” Verspyck said. Compared to the more usual A320 or Boeing 737-sized offerings from most ACMI and charter operators, “it’s more of a niche market. On top of that we have to renew our fleet.”

Amelia intends to gradually phase out its ERJ145s, although this is unlikely to start until 2027.

CDB Leasing is a wholly owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing. “We are delighted to have collaborated on executing this finance lease transaction for two of our E190 aircraft with our new Europe-based customer and thank the Amelia team for their cooperation throughout the process,” CDB Aviation’s head of commercial, EMEA, Gavan Daly said. “These E190 aircraft will support Amelia’s fleet growth strategy and are the beginning of a new chapter for one of France’s oldest airlines.”