By 2038, some 400 million passengers will travel to, from, and within Africa every year. Commercial air travel on the continent – measured in revenue passenger kilometers – is forecast to grow an average of 4.8% annually over the next 20 years. Airlines will need new airplanes to satisfy the more than doubling of passenger enplanements today. It’s why Embraer’s E190-E2 recently visited six African countries. The tour concluded on July 30.
Sporting its distinctive Profit Hunter shark livery, the E190-E2 conducted demonstration flights in Algiers, Morocco, Kenya, Ghana, Mauritius and South Africa. At each stop, airlines, aviation community guests and members of the press learned about the E2’s new interior, avionics, wing, geared turbofan engines, performance, and exceptional operating economics.
The aircraft was on hand at a special July 27 dedication event at Embraer’s new training centre at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport. The facility houses E-Jet simulators and training devices, and offers courses for engineering and maintenance personnel, cabin crew and pilots. During the ceremony, the E2 was parked beside a SA Airlink ERJ145 and first-generation E190.
The E2 tour coincided with the 40th anniversary of the delivery of Embraer’s first airplane to an African airline, an EMB110 Bandeirante turboprop to Nouvelle Air Affaires. Today, some 50 African operators fly more than 150 Embraer aircraft across the continent.
