Brazil’s Embraer has given itself until the middle of this year to reach an agreement with its Chinese partners on adapting its assembly line in Harbin to produce 70- to 110-seat E-Jets. Projecting 50-seat ERJ145 production to completely wind down in the first half of next year, Embraer needs to know within a few months whether or not to launch preparations for a move to the larger airplanes if it expects to execute a relatively seamless transition.
“We think by mid-2010, that would be the deadline to start the implementation of
the new tooling and training of people or [head in] a new direction,” said Embraer executive vice president for the airline market Mauro Kern. Although the Embraer executive mentioned “other possibilities,” he chose not to name them. In any case, Embraer harbors no plans to build both 50-seat jets and E-Jets simultaneously, said Kern. The facility, as built, can accommodate just one assembly line and neither Embraer nor the Chinese have expressed a desire to expand it due mainly to the flagging market for 50-seat jets.
