Amsterdam, Netherlands, 9th June, 2017 – The E190 has this week received type certification from South Africa’s Civil Aviation Authority. Airlink, southern Africa’s largest privately owned regional airline, recently took delivery of their first E190 which will soon go into service. Airlink’s E190 will make its public debut in South Africa at the Adrenaline Air Show, Wonderboom National Airport in Pretoria to be held 10-11 June.
Type certification opens up new opportunities for the aircraft in South Africa. Embraer sees a market for around 50 jets within Embraer product category over the next decade.
Already a significant Embraer customer, Airlink recently decided to add a further 11 ERJ 140s to their fleet and will soon operate 30 Embraer Regional Jets of all three types – ERJ 135, ERJ 140 and the ERJ 145 – the delivery of which will be completed by mid-2018.
“Our partnership with Airlink goes from strength to strength. It’s great to see this excellent airline modernizing its fleet, and to be a part of their growth story,” said Reinaldo Krugner, Vice President for Africa, Latin America & Portugal, Embraer Commercial Aviation. “This certification opens new opportunities for the aircraft, which has already attained significant success in other regions of the world. I’m confident that very soon we will see even more E-Jets flying through the picturesque skies of South Africa.”
Rodger Foster, CEO of Airlink, said, “The Embraer experience continues to be a great one for Airlink and our customers. It’s exciting to see this beautiful jet become a part of our growing fleet. We can’t wait to see our customers’ reaction to our newest addition.”
Embraer is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial jets with up to 130+ seats. The Company has 100 customers from all over the world operating the ERJ and the E-Jet families of aircraft. For the E-Jets program alone, Embraer has logged more than 1,700 orders and over 1,300 deliveries, redefining the traditional concept of regional aircraft by operating across a range of business applications.