Brazilian aerospace group Embraer, the world’s top manufacturer of airliners with up to 150 seats, has announced that it has developed ways for airlines to carry cargo on the passenger decks of its aircraft. This is to help meet the great demand for more air cargo capacity, which has resulted from the great decrease in passenger flights (as airliners carry cargo as well as people), caused by measures taken by many countries in attempts to counter the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Embraer’s engineers rose to the challenge when our customers asked them if they could find a way for their Embraer airplanes to carry more cargo payload,” reported Embraer Services and Support president and CEO Johann Bordais. “Today, customers can choose from a portfolio of solutions to carry cargo in their cabins of their EMB 120s, ERJ 145s and E-Jets.”

The Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency has granted exemptions allowing for the carrying of extra cargo on Embraer’s commercial aircraft. The company has published Technical Dispositions explaining how to embark freight in the cabins of the ERJ 145 and E-Jet (including the new generation E-Jet E2) families of jet airliners. For the turboprop EMB 120, this information is provided in a service bulletin.

Various options are available to operators. In the basic option, the aircraft can remain in full airliner configuration, with cargo placed (in the case of small packages) in overhead bins and other stowage compartments and, with some restrictions, put on passenger seats. Operating in this manner, an E190 with 96 seats and fully-loaded can carry 3 t of cargo in its cabin, as well as the cargo in its belly hold. For an E195 with 118 seats that cabin cargo capacity rises to 3.75 t.

In a more comprehensive option, up to 70% of an aircraft’s passenger seats can be removed and cargo carried on the cabin floor. The freight has to be contained using approved netting, which is attached to the inboard and outboard seat racks. This approach has already been applied to an E195 for Brazilian operator Azul Cargo. This gives a cargo payload capacity of 0.8 t for the ERJ 145 and of 2.36 t for the E190-E2.

For the EMB 120, Embraer has issued a service bulletin covering the conversion of its cabin to a full cargo configuration. The company could do this for its jet types as well, if its customers require it.