Western African Air Carrier Undertakes Fleet Modernization Effort

Embraer S.A., the multinational aerospace manufacturer of commercial, military, executive, and agricultural aircraft founded in 1969 and headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil, announced that Nigeria based Air Peace, Western Africa’s largest airline, has placed a firm order for five Embraer E175 narrow-body airliners, thereby embarking upon an ambitious fleet-modernization effort.

The acquisition speaks compellingly to Air Peace’s ambition to operate Western Africa’s largest and youngest fleet of transport category aircraft.

Deliveries of the 88-seat aircraft are slated to commence in 2024. The order’s list-price value is $288.3-million.

The newly-ordered E175 model jets will complement Air Peace’s extant fleet of larger E195-E2 aircraft, allowing the air-carrier to improve yields and route viability by better matching capacity and demand.

Air Peace chairman and CEO Mr. Allen Onyema stated: "This is another important step in helping to realize our ambition to connect the whole of Nigeria with the entire African continent, while also feeding passengers into long-haul flights from our Lagos hub. The acquisition enables us to continue delivering on our no-city-left-behind initiative; connectivity is what our passengers, and Africa, demand. The deal also paves the way to establish local maintenance capabilities in Nigeria, with direct support from Embraer.” 

Embraer vice-president of sales and marketing and head of Africa and Middle East region, commercial aviation Stephan Hannemann remarked: “Air Peace’s strategic and innovative approach continues to make them a powerhouse of aviation success in West Africa. Already an E2 operator, it now makes sense to up-gauge their ERJ145 fleet, offering passengers more seats and comfort with the E175. The commonality of the cockpits between the E1 and E2 fleet also simplifies aircrew costs and management. Acknowledging Air Peace's significant investment in the acquisition of the Embraer fleet of aircraft, which has increased to 18 brand new firm aircraft to date, Embraer, in partnership with Air Peace, is committed to directly supporting the establishment of local maintenance capabilities in Nigeria.”

Embraer’s E-Jet family is a series of four-abreast, narrow-body, short to medium-range, twin-engine, jet airliners. The design’s commercial success derives largely of its ability to efficiently serve lower-density routes while offering many of the same amenities and features of larger commercial aircraft.

The E-Jet family comprises two series: the smaller, base-model E170 and E175 jets, and the stretched E190 and E195 aircraft. The E170 and E175 share 95-percent commonality, as do the E190 and E195; the two families share near 89-percent commonality, as evinced by their identical fuselage cross-sections and avionics.

To the subject of powerplants, the E170 and E175 are powered by General Electric’s 14,200-lbf CF34-8E turbofan engine, while the stretched E190 and E195 make use of the 20,000-lbf General Electric CF34-10E mill. The noise-signatures and emissions of both engines exceed the requirements established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Ergo, E-Jet operators retain the ability to service noise-sensitive airports such as London City (LCY), Teterboro (TEB), John Wayne (SNA), Santa Monica (SMO), and Naples, Florida (APF).

To date, Embraer has logged orders for north of 1,900 E-Jets from more than one-hundred customers. Presently, no fewer than eighty airlines operate Embraer E-Jets.

FMI: www.embraer.com