Aircraft manufacturer Embraer (wwwmbraer.com) and Widerøe (www.wideroe.no), Scandinavia’s largest regional airline, recently celebrated the delivery of the first production E190-E2 jet aircraft at a ceremony at Embraer’s facility in São José dos Campos (in the state of São Paulo, Brazil).

The Norwegian airline will start flying the new aircraft on domestic routes later this month.

The E190-E2 is the first of three new-generation aircraft — offering seating capacities from 80 to 146 — that are due to be introduced through 2021.

Widerøe’s E190-E2 is configured with 114 seats in a single-class layout, and the airline has contracted for up to 15 E2s — three firm orders and purchase rights for another 12.

The total value of the order is about $873 million, ‘if all rights are exercised’.

The E190-E2, which received Type Certification on 28 February, features new ultra-high-bypass-ratio engines, plus a completely new wing and landing gear.

Compared to the first-generation E190, 75% of the aircraft systems are new. Embraer recently announced some final flight-test results that it says confirm the E2 as the most efficient single-aisle aircraft on the market, with a fuel consumption 1.3% better than originally expected and 17.3% better than the current-generation E190.

The E190-E2 will also have the longest maintenance intervals among single-aisle aircraft, with 10,000 flight hours for basic checks and “no calendar limit for typical utilisation”.

This means an additional 15 days of aircraft use over 10 years, compared to current-generation E-Jets. Embraer is said to be the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial jets with up to 150 seats.

For the E-Jets programme alone, Embraer has logged more than 1,800 orders and 1,400 deliveries.