
Embraer expects to emerge from the Covid crisis in a relatively strong competitive position as a fundamental shift in traffic patterns portends increasing interest in smaller narrowbodies such as the E195-E2, according to Embraer Commercial Aviation CEO Arjan Meijer. Following a 2020 campaign that saw Embraer Commercial ship just 44 airplanes due to customer deferrals and two months of inactivity at the start of the year as it worked on the "carve out" of the division for its since aborted integration with Boeing, the company will likely see improvement on deliveries this year as more markets open with improving epidemiological circumstances. A recent pair of orders covering 17 E175s by Alaska Airlines and its regional partner SkyWest sent what Embraer considers a clear signal of improving market conditions. But even before securing those deals, Embraer added 10 new E-Jet operators resulting mainly from used aircraft transactions since the start of 2020.