The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer delivered the first of five E195-E2 model aircraft, a new model in Europe, this Thursday. They were acquired a year ago by the Spanish airline Binter as part of the Canary Islands company's growth of long-distance flights.
"This aircraft will be an important step in the history of our company by converting us into an operator of latest-generation aircraft. This new milestone, which coincides with the celebration of Binter's 30th anniversary, is added to the important progress we have achieved in recent years," stated the company's Chair, Pedro Agustín del Castillo, during the presentation of the twin-engined jet.
To make this progress possible with the objective of improving the connectivity of the Canary Islands with other countries, Binter – which carried 3.6 million passengers in 2018 – invested some 342 million dollars in the five jets with a capacity for 132 passengers in a single class, as Del Castillo stated to EFE.
This first aircraft, which must still pass a technical assessment by the airline before travelling from Brazil to Spain, is due to arrive in the Canary Islands within a week to effectively join the Binter fleet where it replaces an older model used by the company.
Embraer also plans to deliver two more aircraft in 2019 and the remaining two in mid-2020, when the company can at last put its expansion plan for the new jets into operation.
"We are very proud that we have chosen Embraer because it has latest-technology aircraft. Since the E195-E2 is one of the quietest and most efficient jets in the world, we expect it to provide us with important improvements not only in maintenance costs but also in terms of fuel consumption," added Del Castillo.
The executive also emphasized the company's growth in recent years since it has increased its staff from 400 in 2002 to more than 1,500 and acquired 41 aircraft and he stressed the importance of Binter's sustainability strategy to minimize the environmental impact of its activities by purchasing less polluting aircraft and ground vehicles and eliminating the use of plastics.
"We are committed to supporting the economic and social development of the archipelago and the internationalization of its economy not only with increasingly reinforced internal connections but also with a process of consolidation of air routes with a strategic environment and that's why we have not stopped investing, growing and improving," he stated.
The E195-E2 is the largest of the three jets in the Embraer E-Jets E2 family and was certified last April by the Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
According to Embraer, flight tests showed that the performance of the model chosen by Binter exceeds its original specifications for fuel saving, making it the most environment-friendly aircraft in its category, as well as providing a maintenance cost 20% lower than the previous model, the E195.
The Chair of Embraer, John Slattery, stated that his company is "extremely proud" of delivering the first E195-E2 in Europe to the "most successful" airline on the Old Continent and celebrated the fact that Binter has joined the extensive portfolio of customers that the manufacturer maintains around the world.
"Binter made a strategic investment in Embraer by choosing to acquire the E195-E2, increasing Embraer's base of operations. While every delivery is important to us, every time we receive a new customer it is unique and special," emphasized Slattery during his involvement in the event held in an Embraer hangar in the city of São José dos Campos, in the state of São Paulo.
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