Writer: Gabriel Araujo
FARBOROUGH, England (Reuters) – Brazilian plane maker Embraer signed contracts on Monday to formalize the sale of 9 C-390 Millennium navy plane to the Netherlands and Austria, additional increasing its protection order backlog.
The 2 European international locations had beforehand chosen the plane to exchange their getting old fleets Lockheed Martin (NYSE: ) Hercules C-130, however a closing settlement on a joint order between the 2 international locations has nonetheless not been reached.
The agency order introduced on the Farnborough Air Present contains 5 plane to the Netherlands and 4 to Austria, with deliveries anticipated to begin in 2027 and finish in 2030, in response to the Brazilian firm.
“This is likely one of the most essential days in Embraer’s protection and safety historical past, because it represents our largest C-390 export contract,” stated Bosco da Costa Junior, Embraer’s head of protection. (Bosco da Costa Junior) advised Reuters.
Increasing its abroad enterprise by rising C-390 gross sales has been a key aim of Embraer’s protection unit, which incorporates promoting the navy transport plane to NATO members such because the Netherlands.
Along with these two European international locations and Embraer’s house nation of Brazil, international locations corresponding to Portugal, Hungary, the Czech Republic and South Korea already use the plane of their fleets.
Costa Junior stated Austria and the Netherlands “have chosen the C-390 as a platform that meets all their necessities, however now this turns into a dedication to buy, ship and add the plane to our manufacturing line”.
The corporate didn’t disclose the value of the deal.
Embraer is at present working to extend manufacturing of tactical plane. Costa Junior stated its manufacturing line was initially scheduled to provide 18 plane per yr, but it surely delivered 4 plane this yr and 6 extra subsequent yr.
“We count on that (annual) manufacturing will attain 12 plane by 2030,” the manager stated. “The problem now could be for the availability chain to maintain up with it. A couple of months in the past, we held ‘C-390 Day’ with our key suppliers to make sure that this development will be achieved.”
As of the tip of the second quarter, Embraer had delivered one C-390 plane and its protection backlog stood at $2.1 billion.
“This sale makes our backlog very targeted on NATO, however we additionally did a sale to South Korea final yr. Asia, the Center East and clearly Europe are the areas the place the C-390 has been excellent,” Costa Junior stated clarify. “We’re very optimistic about future purchases from different international locations.”
India, Saudi Arabia and the US are seen as strategic markets for Embraer’s protection unit, with Sweden additionally a possible buyer.
