Air Astana's first E190-E2 features a "snow leopard" livery, designed and hand painted by Embraer in the 'Profit Hunter' style. Air Astana's snow leopard joins the now famous Eagle, Tiger, and Shark E2s with the distinctive 'Profit Hunter' nose art. For Air Astana however, the paint scheme is designed to draw global attention to the threat of extinction faced by the wild cat. The snow leopard is an official symbol of Kazakhstan and is native to the country's southern mountain ranges.
The airline will receive four additional E190-E2s next year, with the last of the five aircraft, leased by AerCap, being delivered in the final quarter of 2019. The Kazakhstan airline will start flying the new aircraft on domestic and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) routes later this month.
Peter Foster said, "Our passengers, staff, and in fact the whole of Kazakhstan will appreciate the amazing depiction of the snow leopard on our new jet. The snow leopard embodies the resilience and ambition of our nation, and we all strive to save these magnificent creatures from extinction and for posterity"."We are honoured to deliver our most advanced commercial aircraft to our good friends at Air Astana", said John Slattery, President & CEO, Embraer Commercial Aviation. "For a manufacturer, there is no better reward than to see a customer's business continuously growing with our products. Air Astana's decision to embrace the E2 program is a further measure of trust in Embraer and in the E-Jets family of commercial aircraft."
The delivery marks the beginning of Air Astana's fleet renewal. Currently, the airline operates fleet of E190s aircraft, the first of which was delivered in 2011. The E190-E2 also generates significant savings for airlines in terms of maintenance costs, with a reduction of up to 25%. It has the longest maintenance intervals with 10,000 flight hours for basic checks and no calendar limit in typical E-Jets utilization. This means an additional 15 days of aircraft utilization over a period of ten years.
Pilots of the first-generation E-Jets require only two-and-a-half days of training without the need for a full flight simulator in order to fly the E2, which decreases the training burden and saves both time and money for the airlines. The E2 cockpit features advanced Honeywell Primus Epic 2 integrated avionics. Combined with the closed-loop fly-by-wire controls, the systems work together to improve aircraft performance, decrease pilot workload and enhance flight safety.