Leeham News and Analysis
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How’s the next new aircraft produced? Part 7. Other OEMs.
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By the Leeham News Team
Sept. 25, 2025, © Leeham News: In Part 1 of this series, we described the production system for Embraer. Should Embraer or any other OEM enter the race for the next aircraft in the single aisle segment, it will pose the same challenges as for Boeing and Airbus.
Embraer has recovered from the collapse of the Boeing-EMB joint venture, and the E195-E2 is selling well. But the regional jet market is limited. Embraer is considering whether to move up to the mainline jet sector. Credit: Embraer.
The aircraft must integrate new types of engines, and large parts must be made with the new types of composites that enable high-rate production.
Embraer E2 Finally Breaks Into The U.S. Market Following 50 Firm Orders +50 Purchase Rights from ULCC Avelo Airlines
By Chris Sloan
Sept. 10, 2025, © Leeham News: Embraer announced today that Embraer’s E2 will finally break into the U.S. market with a firm order from ULCC Avelo for 50 E2-E195s and 50 purchase rights, becoming E2’s 22nd customer. The E2 will enter service with Avelo in mid-2027, with deliveries rolling until 2032. The list-price value of the order is US$4.4 billion, excluding purchase rights.The E2 will be the current 737 NG operator’s first new equipment in the fleet.
The aircraft will pioneer the E2 E2TS (Enhanced Takeoff System) with an increased range benefit with up to 400 additional nmi of range for runways under 5,000 feet, such as Key West, Florida, where Avelo begins service in November. This is an essential factor in new markets, though he didn’t disclose specific routes. “It will get into airports that no one else can,” he adds.
Avelo CEO Andrew Levy said the smaller E2 will be a potent weapon to establish service in new markets that are too large for the 737-700s and 800s. The E2 will enable the airline to expand its existing operations and enter new markets. The company has been looking at the aircraft for two years, which marks the first new aircraft in the airline’s four-year history. “This aircraft will open up opportunities for us that no other aircraft can do. It fits our strategy perfectly,” said Levy.
How’s the next new aircraft produced? Part 1. The starting point.
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By the Leeham News Team
Sept. 4, 2025, © Leeham News: The coming decade is likely to see announcements of new airplanes from Airbus and Boeing. If Embraer decides to move up into the mainline sector, a new airplane from the Brazilian manufacturer should also be announced in the next few years.
This means the clock is ticking toward program launches anywhere between 2027 and 2030, depending on progress from GE Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce in developing new engines.
New airplane concept: The Boeing New Midmarket Airplane, c. 2019. Credit: Leeham News.
For the airframe manufacturers, there are important steps before a new program can be launched. One is how the aircraft shall be developed. We wrote about it in our series “What’s the Next New Aircraft?”. But equally important is, how shall the next new aircraft be produced? It’s what this seven part series is about.
Since June, LNA has published a series of articles about new airplanes, new technologies, new design and new production processes that must be sorted before any of the OEMs move forward. Across the seven parts of this series, we identify flaws and challenges at both Airbus and Boeing, with lessons to be learned as both airframers reshape their approach for future manufacturing.
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- What’s Next is New Aircraft? Part 5
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We call this series “How’s the next new aircraft produced?”. We start by going through where the major OEMs are with their legacy production.
Eve Raising $230 Million To Support eVTOL Aircraft Development
From LNA’s partner at AIN:
By Charles Alcock • Managing Editor
EVE Advanced Air Mobility urban taxi created by an affiliate of Embraer. Credit: EVE.
Eve Air Mobility plans to raise $230 million in equity capital through a share offering that is set to close on Friday. The government-backed Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), along with Embraer and several institutional investors, subscribed to the offering of 47,422,680 shares in common stock, priced at $4.85 per share.
The offering includes new Brazilian Depository Receipts backed by BNDES that will be listed on the São Paulo stock exchange. Eve will use the proceeds from these to cover the cost of services performed in Brazil, where it is manufacturing the four-passenger eVTOL Eve 100 it is developing for service entry in 2027.
The full story may be read on AIN here.
Embraer reports record Q2 revenue and backlog; reaffirms 2025 outlook
By Tom Batchelor
Aug 5, 2025, © Leeham News: Embraer’s revenue and order backlog hit a record high in 2Q 2025, with the Brazilian manufacturer reaffirming its full-year guidance after a strong performance across its business.
The E2 family has improved fuel efficiency. Credit: Embraer
Revenues totaled $1.82 billion in Q2, a 22% increase year-on-year and the highest second-quarter revenue in the company’s history.
The standout driver was Executive Aviation, with segment revenues soaring 64% compared to Q2 2024.
Defense & Security, Services & Support and Commercial Aviation also performed well with increases in revenues of 18%, 13% and 4% yoy.
The company delivered 61 aircraft during the quarter, up 30% from 47 in the same period last year.
This included 19 commercial jets (10 E2s and 9 E1s), 38 executive jets (21 light and 17 medium), and 4 defense aircraft.
CEO Francisco Gomes Neto described the period as the “strongest second quarter in [Embraer’s] history.”
Embraer E2: Where will the orders come from?
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By Karl Sinclair
July 10, 2025, © Leeham News: At a subdued Paris Air Show, Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer announced a firm order from US regional carrier SkyWest Airlines for 60 E175-E1 commercial aircraft, with purchase rights adding 50 planes to the order.
Embraer won a big order from SkyWest Airlines during the Paris Air Show. The E175-E1 is the mainstay of the carrier’s fleet. Credit: Embraer.
This brings the total SkyWest backlog to 74 aircraft, for a total backlog of 220 E1 jets for the variant; 211 of those aircraft are for American carriers.
While the recent SkyWest order is undoubtedly welcome news, the problem is that the rest of the commercial aircraft division is selling and producing the follow-on variant, the Embraer E2 line.
The smallest variant of the E2 family, the E-175 E2, was placed on hold by the company until 2027-2028. This was due to the inability of American carriers to utilize the aircraft in service, resulting from the Scope Clauses with the various pilots’ unions. SkyWest once had a conditional order for 100 E175-E2s. The condition was that the unions would alter the Scope Clause restriction on the aircraft’s weight. The E2 exceeds the allowed weight by a few thousand pounds. The E1 complies.
Scope caps the maximum takeoff weight of an aircraft at 86,000 lbs, or 76 seats. The heavier and more fuel-efficient Pratt & Whitney geared-turbofan engines powering the type put the variant out of reach of US operators.
The commercial aviation industry is undergoing a transformation.
Carriers are opting for larger variants in a segment, as evidenced by the shift in orders at Airbus, away from the A320 to the larger A321 variant, and at Embraer, where the E170 is no longer in production. The dominant aircraft is the largest E195-E2, which accounts for 81% of all orders, compared to 9% previously.
Airbus books 142 firm orders as Boeing retracts from the Paris Air Show
By Bjorn Fehrm
June 19, 2025, © Leeham News at Paris Air Show: Boeing chose to scale down its participation at this week’s Paris Air Show out of respect for the victims of the Air India crash last week. This left Airbus and Embraer to announce new orders, with a total of 142 firm orders for Airbus and 60 for Embraer.
Outside the order activity for the three large airliner OEMs, it was a relatively quiet show, with few noteworthy announcements of advancements in areas such as Sustainable Aviation.
Figure 1. Airbus orders and commitments at the Paris Air Show. Source: Airbus.
Airbus sees Boeing as medium-term competitor, with Comac next
By Scott Hamilton
June 14, 2025, © Leeham News: Airbus and Boeing forecast a significant production gap during the next 20 years of more than 2,000 aircraft per year in their current outlooks released in conjunction with the Paris Air Show. The event begins Monday.
Neither company can fill this gap given their current production rates and the goals they have for the rest of this decade.
This means other manufacturers must step up. The question is who?
China’s Comac is current producing a competitor to the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX, the C919. But the production rate is excruciatingly low.
Comac also has plans for a widebody airplane to compete with the Airbus A330-900 and Boeing 787. If past is prologue, development of this aircraft will be much longer than the target entry into service of 2029.
Embraer currently is the world’s third largest airliner manufacturer. However, its jets seat between 76- and 144 seat. The company is studying whether to enter the mainline jet sector, but the decision seems a year or more away.
Start-up JetZero wants to develop a Blended Wing Body aircraft for the 250-300 seat sector. But it has little money, no engine and, LNA believes, little hope of meeting the ambitious timeline of having a demonstrator aircraft by 2027.
In a media briefing on June 13, Airbus named Boeing as its medium-term competitor; China is most like to become one; Embraer is a question mark; and JetZero appears to be making little progress, in its view.
Embraer’s 20-year market forecast under 150 seats: fewer turboprops, jets about the same
By Scott Hamilton
June 14, 2025, © Leeham News: Embraer’s 20-year market forecast for airliners with 150 seats or less shows a decline in anticipated turboprops and a jet outlook (100-150 jets) about the same as last year’s study.
The study was released days before the Paris Air Show, which begins Monday.
Credit: Embraer.
Embraer now sees a demand for 1,780 turboprops and 8,720 jets. Embraer and ATR, now the only new producer of turboprops outside China and Russia, previously forecast a demand for around 2,100 turboprops. A few years ago, Embraer appeared on a path to develop a new turboprop. It shelved the program, stating there wasn’t a new engine available.
Embraer’s current airliner family consists of the 76-seat E-175 E1, the 100-seat E-190-E2 and the 144-seat E-195-E2. Officials publicly acknowledged that Embraer is studying whether to enter the mainline jet segment of 180- to 230 seats.
Services are driving revenues and profits in difficult times, Part I
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By Karl Sinclair
May 15, 2025, © Leeham News: The aerospace industry is a maintenance-intensive operation, where strict regulatory rules drive many requirements.
Assets must be constantly maintained, governed by the time or usage an airline derives from them.
This goes for airframes, engines, and human resources.
Services account for a large part of aerospace corporate profits. Boeing’s Global Services division is the most profitable part of the company. Photo credit: Boeing Global Services.
Some equipment manufacturers derive little or no profits from product sales, but they make lucrative and long-term revenues from attached maintenance contracts.
Political factors are also coming into play in the services segment.
As airlines are forced into a difficult and expensive decision regarding the payment of tariffs on new aircraft they acquire, many could opt for a different strategy.
Older aircraft that were due for replacement with newer, more fuel-efficient jets will be sent into MRO facilities for an additional heavy-maintenance check.
With falling fuel prices playing less of a factor in the acquisition decision, airlines will be tempted to defer deliveries (thus avoiding the payment of tariffs) using their current assets in their installed fleets.
Extending an aircraft’s useful life by another six to seven years will allow carriers to simply wait out the tariff threat when things return to normal.
LNA looks into the growing services revenue segment among various companies in the aviation industry.