British Airways CityFlyer Managing Director, Peter Simpson, took delivery os the airline’s eleventh E-Jet and the 700th to roll off the Embraer assembly line.

The milestone was celebrated at a ceremony on November 5th in São José dos Campos.

Since the first E-Jet entered revenue service just over six years ago, more than 60 airlines from some 40 countries have included members of the four-aircraft family in their fleets.

The theme of the delivery event was Keep Discovering, a reference to the diversity of business applications in which customers are deploying their E-jets. When Embraer launched the program, it sought to blur the line between mainline and regional aircraft by offering an optimised platform developed specifically for the 70 to 120-seat capacity segment.

Airlines soon discovered that the traditional label of regional jet was limiting and began configuring their E-Jets with premium seat cabins and in-flight entertainment systems. Carriers scheduled the airplanes on long-haul sectors, some exceeding five hours, and interchanged them with larger Boeing & Airbus frequencies.

The single-fleet type philosophy was challenged when low-cost carrier Jet Blue Airways added the E190 to its fleet. Since then, E-Jets have been adopted by LCCs in the UK, Austria and Brazil.

In his ceremony address, Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva, Embraer’s Executive Vice President for the Airline Market, highlighted the ongoing efforts of carriers to develop the performance capabilities of the aircraft. “In Australia, Virgin Blue is flying the E190 four hours and thirty minutes from Perth to the Keeling Islands. What’s remarkable is that the route represents the longest distance that an E-Jet is flying over water.”

British Airways CityFlyer further demonstrates the capabilities of the E170 & E190 by operating both those types at London City Airport. Mr. de Souza e Silva added “it’s a tremendous achievement to see BA’s E-Jets flying to and from the financial capital of Europe.”