In a ceremony held recently at Embraer’s (www.embraer.com) facilities in São José dos Campos, Brazil, the company received type certification for the E190-E2 — the first member of its E-Jets E2 family of commercial aircraft — from the Brazilian Civil Aviation Agency, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency).

It is the first time that an aircraft programme with the level of complexity of the E2 has received a type certificate from three major world-wide certification authorities simultaneously.

It took just 56 months from launching the programme until the E190-E2 was certified. The aircraft features new ultra-high-bypass-ratio engines, as well as a completely new design of wing and landing gear; compared to the first-generation E190, 75% of the aircraft systems are new.

The flight-test programme used four prototype aircraft that were subjected to rigorous testing; they completed over 2,000 flight hours, although some 45,000hr of tests were conducted in laboratories with rigs for aircraft avionics and flight controls, as well as electrical, hydraulic, and environmental systems.

John Slattery, president and CEO (Embraer Commercial Aviation), said: “The certification of the E190-E2 marks a pivotal milestone in the programme.

“It’s reasonable to now anticipate an acceleration of commercial discussions with operators around the globe.”