The first Embraer ERJ-145 built in the People’s Republic of China rolled out of its assembly hangar on December 16 in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, and flew for the first time in front of industry and government dignitaries from the host country and Brazil. The ceremonies marked the culmination of 11 months of collaborative effort, during which time Embraer and its Chinese partners–AVIC II subsidiaries Harbin Aircraft and Hafei Aviation–refurbished assembly facilities, prepared jigs and tools, hired and trained 139 employees and built the first airplane on schedule. Unfortunately for all involved, none of the airlines on hand came ready to sign a firm purchase contract, muting any proclamations of a commercial triumph until a later date.
Although billed as a breakthrough in Sino-Brazilian relations, the partnership that formally established Harbin Embraer Aircraft last January 13 resulted in large part from the Chinese government’s protectionist policies. Before the Chinese effectively suspended regional jet imports in 2001, the country had begun to reveal its market potential to all three regional jet manufacturers. Embraer, for its part, had delivered five ERJ-145s to Sichuan Airlines and won firm orders for 20 of the 50-seat jets from China Southern Airlines and for 10 from Wuhan Airlines. But when the Chinese regime reached the conclusion that the demand could help buttress its own aerospace industry, it placed prohibitively high import duties on Western products, effectively closing the market to Embraer and its competitors.
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