SkyWest signs firm order for nine E175 jets

Embraer and SkyWest, Inc. have signed a firm order for nine E175 jets, with deliveries expected to begin in 2019. The order has a value of $422 million, based on current list prices, and was already included in Embraer's 2018 fourth-quarter backlog. SkyWest Airlines will operate all nine E175s, featuring a 76-seat configuration.

"Since 2013, SkyWest has purchased a total of 158 E175s, including these nine," said Charlie Hillis, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, North America, Embraer Commercial Aviation in a company press release.

Including this new contract, Embraer has sold more than 565 E175s to airlines in North America, since January 2013, earning more than 80 percent of all orders in this 70-76-seat jet segment.

Since entering revenue service, the E-Jets family has received more than 1,800 orders and over 1,500 aircraft have been delivered. Today, E-Jets are flying in the fleet of 70 customers in 50 countries.

SkyWest orders 20 E-Jets from Embraer

Embraer announced a firm order from SkyWest, Inc. for 20 E-Jets on Monday. The order has a value of $914 million, based on current list prices, and will be included in Embraer's 2017 third-quarter backlog. Combined with last month's announcement for 25 new aircraft, Monday's order results in a cumulative order of 45 new aircraft placed by SkyWest with Embraer in 2017.

Of the 20 aircraft, SkyWest will receive 15 E175 SC (Special Configuration) aircraft, in a 70-seat configuration. The E175 SC aircraft features an E175 airframe, which can be retrofitted to 76 seats in the future. SkyWest will also receive five E175s, in a 76-seat configuration, similar to aircraft SkyWest

has previously ordered.

Including this new contract, Embraer has sold more than 380 E175 jets to airlines in North America since January 2013, earning more than 80 percent of all orders in the 76-seat jet segment. Since entering revenue service, the E-Jets family has received more than 1,700 orders and over 1,300 aircraft have been delivered. Today, E-Jets are flying in the fleets of 70 customers in 50 countries.

Widerøe orders Embraer E2 aircraft

Embraer has signed a contract with Widerøe, the largest regional airline in Scandinavia, for up to 15 E2 jets. The contract consists of three firm orders for the E190-E2 and purchase rights for 12 further E2 aircraft. This flexible mix of purchase rights for E175-E2, E190-E2, and E195-E2 will give Widerøe the ability to grow their fleet with a family of aircraft from 80 to 130+ seats.

The order has a potential list price value of up to $873 million, if all orders are converted. The three firm orders for E190-E2s were included in Embraer's fourth quarter 2016 backlog.

"It's always an important moment for Embraer when we add a new airline to our family of operators. Our next generation E190-E2s will also be the first jets in Widerøe's fleet,” said Arjan Meijer, chief commercial officer, Embraer Commercial Aviation.

Widerøe will configure the E190-E2s in a comfortable single-class layout with 114 seats. Deliveries are scheduled for 2018. This deal brings the E-Jets E2 backlog to 275 firm orders plus Letters of Intent, options and purchase rights covering another 415 aircraft giving a total of 690 commitments from airlines and leasing companies.

CommutAir appoints Subodh Karnik as president & CEO

CommutAir announced the appointment of Subodh Karnik to President and CEO, effective immediately. Karnik's appointment follows the finalization, upon receiving regulatory approvals, of the previously announced agreement with United Airlines for the introduction of Embraer 50-seat jet aircraft at CommutAir.

"Subodh has strikingly impressive qualifications for the job of leading our company into the new role which United has entrusted to us", said CommutAir's Chairman, John Sullivan, in a company press release. "His career has spanned over thirty years of direct leadership responsibility in operations, finance, marketing and planning at some of the largest airlines in the world, including senior corporate officer positions at Delta, Continental and Northwest. He has headed up global airline consulting at ICF-SH&E; one of the world's leading aviation consulting firms and has been part of the consulting practice at Ernst & Young. He was President and CEO of Global Aero Logistics, parent company of World Airways, North American Airlines and ATA. The list continues to several turnaround projects, including Jet Airways (India), Air Pacific (Fiji) and Air Jamaica".

CommutAir, operating as United Express, is majority owned by Champlain Enterprises LLC, an airline holding company. Today, CommutAir operates a large fleet of Bombardier Q200/Q300 aircraft with more than 650 weekly flights to 29 airports.

SkyWest orders 18 Embraer 175 jets

Embraer announced Monday that it has signed a firm order with SkyWest, Inc. for 18 E175 jets. The order, which will be included in Embraer's 2015 third-quarter backlog, has an estimated value of $800 million, based on the current list price. The aircraft will be operated by SkyWest Airlines, under an amendment to an existing Capacity Purchase Agreement with United Airlines.

With this new 18 aircraft purchase, the total number of SkyWest E175 firm orders reached 73 units of this model.

Delivery of the first aircraft is expected in 2016. The E175s are configured in a dual class 76-seat layout, equipped with 12 First Class seats, 16 Economy Plus seats, and 48 Economy seats, and will operate under the United Express brand.

The E175s feature a new wingtip that, among other technical enhancements, improves aerodynamic performance. Fuel consumption on a typical flight is 6.4 percent lower than first-generation E175s. In the last two years, the E175 has captured over 80 percent of orders among aircraft in its class from airlines in the United States.

SkyWest is the holding company for two scheduled passenger airline operations and an aircraft leasing company and is headquartered in St. George, Utah. SkyWest's airline companies provide commercial air service in cities across the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean with more than 3,500 flights and a fleet of 678 aircraft. SkyWest Airlines operates through partnerships with United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, US Airways, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. ExpressJet Airlines operates through partnerships with United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines.

Boeing, Embraer collaborate to test environment-focused aviation technologies

U.S.-based Boeing and Brazil's Embraer S.A. announced Tuesday that they intend to collaborate to test environment-focused technologies through the ecoDemonstrator Program in a joint effort to improve aviation's environmental performance. This expands ongoing cooperation between two of the world's largest airplane manufacturers.

Frederico Curado, president and CEO of Embraer, and Marc Allen, president of Boeing International, signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the Brazil-U.S. Business Summit organized by the Brazil-U.S. Business Council.

Boeing launched its ecoDemonstrator Program in 2011 to accelerate testing and use of new technologies that can reduce fuel use, carbon emissions and noise. The company has so far tested more than 50 technologies with a Next-Generation 737-800, 787 Dreamliner and, currently, a 757. Through their collaboration, Boeing and Embraer are planning to conduct ecoDemonstrator tests with an Embraer airplane in 2016. 

The ecoDemonstrator cooperation between Boeing and Embraer advances a relationship that began in 2012 when the manufacturers announced they would cooperate in ways that create value for both companies and their customers. Since then, the manufacturers have worked together to improve runway safety and support Embraer's KC-390 defense aircraft program.

In addition, in 2015, Boeing and Embraer opened a joint biofuel research center in São José dos Campos, Brazil, to perform biofuel research and coordinate research with Brazilian universities and other institutions. Boeing has worked with suppliers, airlines and government agencies on previous ecoDemonstrator flight tests. Those technologies include a new winglet and "bug-phobic" wing coatings that can improve aerodynamic efficiency, software applications that can improve in-flight efficiency and new types of sustainable aviation biofuel.

Video: Plane crashes near Montgomery County Airpark

A small jet aircraft crashed into a neighborhood within a mile of Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg, Md., on Monday.

The aircraft is a 2009 Embraer 500 Phenom 100 jet (tail number N100EQ) registered to Sage Aviation LLC in Chapel Hill, N.C., according to Federal Aviation Administration records.

Three people aboard the plane and a mother and her two children in a nearby house were killed in the accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board has recovered the flight recorders from the plane. 

Republic Airways signs landing gear maintenance contract

TAT Technologies Ltd., a leading provider of services and products to the commercial and military aerospace and ground defense industries, announced Sunday that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Piedmont Aviation Component Services, has signed a seven year landing gear Maintenance Support Agreement with Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. covering their Embraer E - 175 fleet. The agreement covers the current fleet of 160 aircraft and the total value may exceed $45 million.

"This contract will position us as a world leading maintenance service provider for Embraer E - 170/190 landing gear as the fleet is just entering first wave of major overhaul requirements," said TAT's President and CEO Itsik Maaravi. "The new agreement reinforces TAT's leading position in the regional landing gear maintenance industry, adding new capabilities to our existing product lines, which currently includes ATR 42/72, CRJ 100/200 and Dash 8 aircraft."