Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante

Updated: October 2026 – A slim low-wing aircraft taxis to the runway, two slender propeller nacelles sit far forward on the straight wing, the landing gear disappears after liftoff, and the tail looks almost old-fashioned in its simplicity: if you run into this anywhere between the Amazon and New England, it is very likely an Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante. It is where Brazil’s aircraft industry began. Here you learn where the type comes from, which versions exist, how to tell it apart from similar feeders and where the last examples still fly or stand.

What is the EMB 110 Bandeirante?

The Bandeirante is a twin-engine turboprop feeder for 15 to 21 passengers. It was designed for exactly the routes that are plentiful in a country the size of Brazil: short and medium connections between regional towns, often with basic runways and little infrastructure. It is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A engines – the same engine family found in many other small turboprops. It has no pressurized cabin.

The story begins in 1965, when the Brazilian Ministry of Aeronautics commissioned a light multipurpose transport aircraft. It was designed at the aeronautics technology center in São José dos Campos under the French engineer Max Holste, while the young officer Ozires Silva oversaw the building of the prototype. The prototype, with the military designation YC-95, took off on its first flight on October 26, 1968. Embraer marked exactly this date in 2018 with an event for the 50th anniversary.

There was simply no manufacturer for series production at the time. So in August 1969 the Brazilian state founded the Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica, Embraer for short, with Ozires Silva as its first president. The Bandeirante was its first production aircraft. After three prototypes the design was revised once more; the first production aircraft went to the air force in February 1973, and in April 1973 Transbrasil put the type into scheduled service.

Production ran until 1990. Embraer itself lists 498 aircraft delivered; other sources give slightly different figures from just under to just over 500. After that the manufacturer concentrated on the larger successor, the EMB 120 Brasilia, and later on the regional jets of the ERJ 145 family. Without the Bandeirante there would be neither these types nor today’s E-Jets such as the Embraer E190.

The versions at a glance

The Bandeirante was adapted again and again over two decades. What matters most for spotters: there is a short original version and stretched versions from the EMB 110K on, which you recognize by the ventral fin under the tail.

Version	Use	Feature
EMB 110 / C-95	first series, air force and airlines	short fuselage, PT6A-27 with 680 hp
EMB 110K1 / C-95A	air force freighter version	fuselage stretched by 0.85 m, PT6A-34, ventral fin, rear cargo door
EMB 110P1	civil, quickly convertible between cargo and passengers	stretched fuselage with large cargo door
EMB 110P2	pure passenger version	stretched fuselage without cargo door
EMB 110P1A/41, P2A/41	late civil series	higher takeoff weight of 5,900 kg
EMB 110B / R-95	aerial photography and survey	equipment for aerial cameras
EMB 110E	business travel	6 to 8 seats, executive cabin
EMB 111 / P-95	maritime patrol	search radar in enlarged nose, nickname “Bandeirulha”

There were also special versions for search and rescue flights (SC-95), geophysical survey. Militarily, the C-95 accounts for the lion’s share in Brazil: the air force still operated around 96 aircraft in 2010, and about 48 were reported for 2017. Some of them were modernized.

The three features that are enough to identify it

Small feeder turboprops look similar at first glance. With the Bandeirante, though, a simple sequence is enough.

If you want a systematic way to tell turboprops apart in general, the guide How to tell turboprops apart offers a good method. As always, the registration provides confirmation; the article Understanding aircraft registrations explains how to read prefixes and country codes.

Bandeirante or something else?

The most common mix-ups happen with other small feeders of the 1970s and 1980s. The finder helps you narrow it down.

Comparing it with its own successor is especially worthwhile: the EMB 120 Brasilia is larger, has a pressurized cabin and carries its horizontal stabilizer at the very top of the vertical fin. Once you have seen the two side by side, you will never mix them up again.

The Bandeirante in Europe – and at Ryanair

For European spotters the Bandeirante has a special footnote: the continent’s largest low-cost carrier today, Ryanair, started with exactly this type. On July 8, 1985 the first Ryanair flight took off from Waterford in southeast Ireland to London Gatwick – with a 15-seat EMB 110. The Bandeirante did not stay long; larger aircraft followed. Today the group, under the umbrella of Ryanair Holdings, flies hundreds of Boeing 737s, but the beginning was a small turboprop from Brazil.

In Britain, too, the type was seen in the 1980s and 1990s with small regional airlines and cargo operators, for example Air Ecosse or Titan Airways. Those days are over: in scheduled service in Europe the Bandeirante no longer plays a role. In German-speaking countries it is now a real rarity that shows up at most on ferry flights.

Where the Bandeirante still flies today

The Bandeirante is not just a museum type – but the number of active aircraft has been falling for years. According to an industry count from 2020, there were still 39 aircraft with 15 operators in airline service worldwide, with the largest fleets then at Wiggins Airways and Royal Air Freight in the US and Transportes Aéreos Guatemaltecos. Many of these aircraft fly cargo, often at night and on short routes. How many are left in October 2026 can only be established through current fleet databases.

Region	Chance of a sighting	Why
Brazil	medium	home country, air force with the C-95, smaller regional operators
USA (mainly the Northeast and Midwest)	medium to low	Small cargo operators with Bandeirante fleets
Central America	low to medium	A few regional airlines with older turboprops
Europe / DACH	very low	No scheduled service anymore, only isolated cases

In Brazil the air force remains the most important place to look for C-95 sightings. If you are traveling to São Paulo anyway, you may get lucky at São Paulo-Guarulhos Airport, even though the big international hub mostly attracts jets. Historically the type also shaped the fleets of Brazilian airlines such as Transbrasil and VASP, both of which no longer exist.

How to put such rarities into perspective is explained in the article How rare is my sighting?. The guide Spotting rare aircraft collects tips for hunting exotics, and Tracking an aircraft by registration shows how to keep a specific registration in view.

Museum examples: the Bandeirante up close

Since flying aircraft are rare, a look in a museum is worthwhile. The YC-95 prototype – the aircraft that first took off in 1968 – stands in the Museu Aeroespacial in Rio de Janeiro. Another early example is shown by the Memorial Aeroespacial Brasileiro in São José dos Campos – the city where Embraer still has its headquarters. For aviation fans planning a trip to Brazil, that is a rewarding combination of technology and company history.

How to reliably identify vintage and historic types in general is shown in the guide Recognizing historic aircraft. And if you would like to fly on an old feeder yourself, you will find ideas in the article Flying rare aircraft types as a passenger.

Planning a spotting tour

Whether in Brazil or at a small cargo airfield in North America, Bandeirante operations rarely follow a pattern you know by heart. Planning decides.

Cargo operators in particular often fly in the off-peak hours. So check in advance whether the aircraft you want is flying in daylight at all. For light planning, the guide Planning the sun position for your photo spot helps.

Photo tips specifically for the Bandeirante

The Bandeirante is small, slim and flies comparatively slowly – a rewarding subject if you take the quirks of propeller aircraft into account.

You can find out how old a particular aircraft is with the guide Finding out an aircraft’s age. If you are just getting started, Plane spotting for beginners gets you on track quickly.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Conclusion

The EMB 110 Bandeirante is far more than a small turboprop: it is the reason Embraer exists at all. A state development program of the 1960s became a feeder that flew in almost 500 examples on several continents – and in Ireland even laid the foundation for Ryanair. Today it has become rare. That is exactly what makes every sighting a special entry in your logbook.