Brazil’s Embraer continued to spread its steadily expanding influence among the world’s airlines last month with a 12-aircraft order for 76-seat Embraer 170s from Finnair and the entry into service of a pair of Chinese-built ERJ-145s in the People’s Republic. While the tidy sum of more than $300 million from Finland’s flag carrier will certainly make for a welcome addition to Embraer’s sales ledger, the July 1 service entry of China Southern Airlines’ first pair of Chinese-built ERJ-145s could prove even more valuable, if only in a symbolic sense.
So far having sold only six of the 50-seat jets built in Harbin by the Harbin-Embraer Aircraft joint venture, Embraer hopes the resumption of deliveries to China Southern will help restore the momentum of China’s promising regional jet market, effectively shut down by the Chinese government only three years ago with exorbitant import taxes.
