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 customer"™ 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.
