Alexandre Rocha*
São Paulo – Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer should deliver on Thursday (08) its first Embraer 170 to Saudi Arabian Airlines, out of a total of 15 units ordered, and is optimistic about the perspectives for new business in the Arab world. The Saudi company will be the first in the Middle East to use the regional jets produced by the Brazilian airline.
"The contract with Saudi Arabian is very important. It is an emblematic company, in a country that is a reference in the region, both in religious terms, and economic," stated the executive vice president for the civil aviation market at Embraer, Frederico Fleury Curado.
The contract, evaluated at US$ 400 million, was signed in April by the president of the Brazilian airline, Maurício Botelho, and the general director at Saudi Arabian, Khaled A. Ben-Bakr.
In the evaluation of Curado, the beginning of operation of the model in the Arab world, which should take place in January, is going to attract the attention of other airlines in the region. This, aligned with the economic development powered by the increase of oil prices, should lever other business.
"With the price of oil, there is being absurd economic development in the region," declared the executive. "And there is a direct relation between growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the countries and the increase of aerial traffic," he added.
In his opinion, the geography of the region, with short distances, is also favourable for the use of the aircraft produced by Embraer, which are for between 70 and 110 passengers. "There are perspectives for success in the region in the short term," he declared.
There has been a change in company evaluation of the possibilities in the region, as in the past they believed that the market was only appropriate for large aircraft and executive jets.
Exclusive salesman
A proof of this greater Embraer interest in the Middle East is the company participation at Dubai Air Show, which took place in November in the United Arab Emirates. During the fair, Embraer announced the nomination of an exclusive sales manager for the region, named Tony Fitzpatrick, who will be based at the company office in Dubai.
"I was very impressed with what I saw there," stated the Embraer vice-president for the aviation sector, Luís Carlos Affonso, who also participated in the fair. He added that the company recently sold two units of its Legacy executive jet to a businessman in the Emirates and is enthusiastic about the possibility of new business.
“The Legacy has a large cabin and cargo compartment, important characteristics for the market in the region,” he said. According to him, Arab clients usually travel with delegations or with their families, needing more space for passengers and luggage. “Our baggage compartment is the largest in the category,” he declared.
He added that during the fair he was asked many times about the possibility of releasing an executive version of aircraft in the Embraer 170/190 family. “This is a possibility we will evaluate, it obviously needs approval by the board, but we are studying it,” he finished off.
*Translated by Mark Ament
