Helvetic Airways AG of Zürich is going all E2!
The Swiss airline will retire its 5 Fokker 100s and replace its current fleet of 7 E190s with 12 E190-E2s. The carrier holds options for an additional 12 E190-E2s. It can also convert those options to the larger E195-E2 should future market conditions require more seat capacity.
Helvetic acquired its first E190 in December 2014. Deliveries of the new 12 E190-E2s are scheduled to start in late 2019 and finish by the fall of 2021.
In his remarks announcing the Letter of Intent (which should become a formal contract in a few months), Helvetic CEO Tobias Pogorevc cited the E190’s excellent dispatch rates. He also mentioned the commonality advantage between E-Jet generations. “Moving from the current E190 to the E2 fleet will be simple for our well-trained pilots as only two and a half days of non-simulator transition training is needed.”