Embraer S.A. and Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras S.A. have reached a final agreement for 30 firm orders for the E195-E2 jets. The contract, announced as a Letter of Intent (LOI) during the 2014 edition of the Farnborough International Airshow, in July last year, also includes an additional 20 purchase rights for the same model, bringing the total potential order up to 50 E195-E2 jets.

“In the name of Embraer’s 19,000 employees, I want to thank Azul for choosing us, once again, to be a part in the development of the company, which was born and has grown with the E-Jets in the Brazilian market,” says Paulo César Silva, President & CEO, Embraer Commercial Aviation. “This new contract is a show of confidence in the E-Jets E2 program, which is following in the steps of the commercial success of the current E-Jets generation. For that reason, we continually invest in meeting the demands of the airline companies for an even more efficient generation of aircraft.”

The contract for the E-Jets E2 has an estimated value of USD 3.2 billion, at Embraer’s current list prices, if all purchase rights are converted to firm orders. The firm orders will be included in Embraer’s 2015 second-quarter backlog. The first delivery is scheduled for the second quarter of 2020.

“Our partnership with Embraer, since the founding of Azul, has been decisive for consolidating our business plan and our growth in the domestic aviation market. By choosing airplanes built and developed in Brazil, Azul contributes to generating and maintaining jobs, as well as to the development of Brazil’s economy,” states David Neeleman, CEO of Azul. “The E2 will be the most advanced airplane in its category, providing a savings on fuel burn more than 20% higher than the current model. That will be fundamental for maintaining our competitive fares and for growing in the domestic market.”

Currently, the Brazilian airline has a total of 82 E-Jets in service and another six E195s on order. It operates the largest fleet of E195s in the world. With this firm order from Azul, the E-Jets E2 backlog reaches 242 firm orders, plus 348 options and purchase rights.

The first delivery of an E-Jets E2 (the E190-E2) is planned for the first semester of 2018. The E195-E2 is scheduled to enter service in 2019 and the E175-E2 in 2020. The E-Jets E2 program reinforces Embraer’s commitment to continuously invest in the company’s line of commercial jets and to maintain leadership in the 70 to 130-seat aircraft segment. Embraer’s E-Jets E2s have state-of-the-art Pratt & Whitney PurePowerTM Geared Turbofan high by-pass ratio engines (PW1700G on the E175-E2, PW1900G on the E190-E2 and E195-E2). Combined with new aerodynamically advanced wings, full fly-by-wire flight controls, and improvements to other systems, the E2s will deliver significant reductions in fuel burn, maintenance costs, emissions, and external noise.