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By Scott Hamilton
Embraer Group CEO Francisco Gomes Neto. Credit: Embraer.
Nov. 6, 2025, © Leeham News: When it comes to new airplane development, Airbus and Boeing get all the headlines.
The world’s third-largest airplane manufacturer, Embraer, gets overlooked. Compared with the Big Two, Embraer is small potatoes—and the market for which it is best known, its E-Jet, is primarily associated with regional airlines flown by major carriers, not the big airlines.
Given the duopoly of Airbus and Boeing, their delivery delays, the latter’s groundings, production, safety and quality concerns, many urged Embraer to move up to the mainline jet sector. Competing with Airbus and Boeing would be daunting enough. There is also China’s emerging COMAC to consider. COMAC may be struggling today for geopolitical and industrial reasons, but commercial airplane programs are 40-50-year endeavors. Few doubt that COMAC will become a force in the future.
Embraer acknowledges it is considering developing an airplane with 180-240 seats, presumed to be a single-aisle aircraft. However, this is far from the only possibility of a new program. In addition to the risks and rewards of taking on the Big Two and COMAC, here’s what else Embraer is up to. Studies are also underway for:
- A larger business jet;
- A smaller commercial jet;
- Continued research and development of its Energia environmental aircraft initiative; and
- The final stretch for bringing the EVE eVTOL to market.
There’s only so much money to go around. Development of a mainline jet must compete internally for a piece of this pie.
Embraer developed more than 20 new aircraft designs since 2000, a record unmatched by other manufacturers. Credit: Embraer.
Embraer has designed, developed, and produced more than 20 aircraft since 2000. Most of them required commercial certification.
Embraer’s largest aircraft are the E195-E2 and the KC-390 tanker-transport. Dimensionally, these are about the same size as the Boeing 737-8 and Airbus A320neo.
