The Embraer 190-E2 first flew on May 23, 2016. The aircraft, registration PR-ZEY, took off from the Embraer facility in São José dos Campos at 15:06 UTC for a flight lasting three hours and 20 minutes. The first E190-E2 revenue flights, WF662/WF623 between Bergen and Tromsø were operated by Norwegian carrier Widerøe on April 4, 2018.
The E190-E2 is part of a family of new generation regional jets built by Brazilian manufacturer Embraer and is a development of the very popular Embraer 190. The aircraft was designed to be highly efficient on longer regional and short haul sectors thanks to a high aspect ratio wing design and its more efficient Pratt & Whitney PW1900G GTF engines.
Pratt & Whitney’s Geared Turbofan engines have been a regular feature in the news recently thanks to ongoing maintenance issues which have resulted in aircraft being able to perform fewer flight cycles in certain environments. These issues have led to the recent grounding of KLM’s larger Embraer 195-E2 fleet, as well as facilitated the collapse of Indian airline Go First in May 2023. These issues have also been impacting the Airbus A220. You can check out Episode 213 of AvTalk to hear more about the impacts of Pratt & Whitney engine issues on operators.
Who flies the Embraer 190-E2 today?
There are 23 Embraer 190-E2 aircraft as of the type’s seventh birthday. The largest operator is Swiss carrier Helvetic Airways, who utilize 8 aircraft. Air Astana and Wilderøe have 5 and 3 aircraft respectively, followed by Congo Airways (2) and Pionair Australia (1). Manufacturer Embraer retain four aircraft for sales and testing purposes, two of which are painted in the impressive ‘Profit Hunter’ livery.
Competition with the Airbus A220-100
The Embraer 190-E2 has faced significant competition from the Airbus A220 (formerly the Bombardier C-Series). Whilst the aircraft have a broadly similar value proposition to airlines, there is a big difference in their range.
The A220-100 has a maximum range of 3,450 nautical miles (about 21% higher than the E190-E2’s 2,850 nautical miles), though Embraer has claimed that seat or trip costs on both the 190 and 195-E2 can be up to 10% lower than the A220-100. The aircraft have similar seat counts, with both the A220-100 and Embraer 190-E2 typically seating 100 to 110 passengers in a two-class configuration.
How can I track the Embraer 190-E2 on Flightradar24?
You can track the Embraer 190-E2 using aircraft filters in Flightradar24 Beta. Click on the Filters icon in the bottom toolbar, head to custom filters and choose aircraft. You can locate the 190-E2 by entering ‘Embraer’ in the search box. You can also enter the aircraft’s code ‘E290’.
Cover image: Borut, JetPhotos
