Brazilian aerospace group Embraer has reported that it delivered nearly 35% fewer civilian jets last year than the year before. During 2020, the company delivered 130 such jets, as against the 198 delivered during 2019. During the last quarter of last year, it delivered 71 jets, which was ten fewer than the number delivered in the last quarter of 2019. However, the group had a firm order backlog worth $14.4-billion.

In the civil jet sector, Embraer produces both commercial jets with up to 150 seats (and is the world’s number one manufacturer in this sector) and business, or executive, jets. The latter are subdivided into light business jets and large business jets. During 2020 it delivered 44 commercial jets and 86 executive jets (of which 56 were light and 30 were large). Of these, 28 commercial jets and 43 business jets (23 light and 20 large) were delivered in the fourth quarter.

“Although deliveries accelerated during the fourth quarter of 2020 relative to the three previous quarters, they were heavily impacted, mostly in commercial aviation, due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” said the group in its statement. Even so, there were still some highlights. Belavia, the national flag carrier of Belarus, took delivery of its first E195-E2 airliner. Congo Airways firmly ordered two of the same type of airliner, in addition to its previous order for two smaller E190-E2 airliners. 

Moreover, Embraer Executive Jets delivered the first Praetor 600 business jet to launch customer Flexjet. In addition, it completed, and delivered to an undisclosed customer, the first conversion of a Legacy 450 into a Praetor 500 undertaken in Europe. The conversion work was carried out at the Embraer Executive Jets facility at Le Bourget International Airport in Paris.

And during the fourth quarter, Embraer Defence & Security delivered the fourth KC-390 Millennium multimission medium airlift and air-to-air refuelling aircraft to the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), which has ordered a total of 28. (Millenium aircraft not fitted to act as air-to-air refuelling tankers are designated C-390s.) Furthermore, it delivered two modernised E-99M airborne early warning and control aircraft to the FAB. Three more will be modernised.

Embraer was founded in 1969 and, since then, has manufactured more than 8 000 aircraft.  About every ten seconds, on average, an Embraer aircraft takes off somewhere around the world, and the group’s planes carry more than 145-million passengers every year.