Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia

Updated: October 2026 – A small turboprop rolls out, the wings sit low on the fuselage, the horizontal stabilizer perches at the very top of the vertical fin, and two four-blade propellers spin up front: that is very likely an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia. In the 1980s and 1990s it was one of North America’s most important feeder aircraft, and in Germany it flew briefly for the then DLT. Today it has become rare – and for exactly that reason a coveted entry for any spotter’s collection. Here you learn how to identify it reliably, which variants exist and where you can still find it.

What is the Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia?

The EMB 120 Brasilia is a twin-engine pressurized regional turboprop for typically 30 passengers. It was built by the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer in São José dos Campos. The roots of the project go back to the 1970s: Embraer was then planning a whole family of smaller turboprops. In the late 1970s the design was reworked and given the name of the Brazilian capital.

The prototype took off on its first flight on July 27, 1983. In October 1985 Atlantic Southeast Airlines in the US put the type into service as the first operator. That meant the Brasilia hit exactly the moment when US regional airlines, after deregulation, were taking over feeder flights for the big network carriers in huge numbers. Fast, pressurized and with a range of about 1,750 kilometers with a full cabin, it fit that business perfectly.

Depending on the source, a good 350 aircraft were built. Civil series production ended around the turn of the millennium; after that Embraer concentrated entirely on regional jets. The Brasilia is considered the manufacturer’s last turboprop airliner – and the technical starting point of the ERJ family, from which the ERJ 145, among others, emerged.

Technology in brief

The Brasilia is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW118 engines (or PW118A or PW118B) with about 1,800 shaft horsepower each. The first aircraft still flew with the weaker PW115. The engines sit in slim nacelles on the leading edge of the wing and drive four-blade Hamilton Standard propellers.

The fuselage has a circular cross-section and is slim: the cabin has only one aisle, so headroom and seat width are correspondingly tight – for flights of one to two hours that was normal in this class. The wing is straight, without sweep, and sits low on the fuselage. The retractable tricycle landing gear is operated hydraulically.

With a cruise speed of about 550 km/h the Brasilia was quick for a turboprop of its size. The service ceiling is just under 30,000 ft.

How to recognize the Brasilia in three steps

Among small regional turboprops there are many similar silhouettes. With three targeted looks, though, you can narrow down the Brasilia reliably.

In the end, as always, the registration confirms the type. Especially with older aircraft that have changed operators several times, a look at the register is worthwhile; the guide Understanding aircraft registrations explains how that works.

EMB 120 variants

The Brasilia stayed largely the same externally over its production run. The differences lie mainly in weight, range and interior.

Variant	Feature	Spotter note
EMB 120	Base version from 1985, early aircraft with PW115	Looks like the later versions from the outside
EMB 120RT	Early series variant, designation explained differently in different sources	Can only be identified reliably by registration
EMB 120ER	“Extended Range,” higher takeoff weight, standard model from 1993	Can only be identified reliably by registration
EMB 120ER Advanced	ER with reworked cabin and external improvements	Can only be identified reliably by registration
EMB 120FC	Pure freighter (“Full Cargo”)	Often closed-off cabin windows
EMB 120QC	Quickly convertible between passengers and cargo (“Quick Change”)	Barely distinguishable from the passenger aircraft from the outside
VC-97 / C-97	Transport and VIP version of the Brazilian Air Force	Military livery, air force serial

For spotters the freighter versions matter most, because many former passenger aircraft were converted after their airline careers. A typical hint is missing or closed-off cabin windows; it only becomes certain with the registration. You can find more about freighters in general in the article Recognizing cargo aircraft.

Brasilia or another turboprop?

The most common mix-ups happen with other small twins. The finder helps you narrow it down.

The most important distinctions at a glance:

Type	Wing	Tail	Size class
EMB 120 Brasilia	Low wing	T-tail	about 30 seats
Saab 340	Low wing	conventional, low	about 30 to 36 seats
Dornier 328	High wing	T-tail	about 30 seats
Beechcraft 1900D	Low wing	T-tail	19 seats
BAe Jetstream 41	Low wing	Horizontal stabilizer halfway up the fin	about 30 seats
ATR 42-500	High wing	T-tail	about 48 seats

The predecessor EMB 110 Bandeirante is also an Embraer low-wing aircraft, but smaller, unpressurized and with a conventional tail. If you see the two side by side, you recognize the Brasilia as the clearly more modern, “rounder” design. You can tell other turboprops – from the ATR to the Dash 8-100 – apart with the guide How to tell turboprops apart.

Operators in the US: the big chapter

The Brasilia had its real success in North America. Launch operator Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew it as a feeder for Delta. The largest US operator became SkyWest Airlines, which at times had more than 60 aircraft in service and flew them as United Express, among other things. It was not until 2015 that SkyWest retired its last Brasilias.

Comair was also among the operators; the airline flew as Delta Connection. The type was also in use under the Continental Express brand of Continental Airlines. Later operators included Great Lakes Airlines with a small fleet.

The Brasilia era in the US is also linked to serious accidents that had a lasting effect on aviation safety. The investigating authority attributed the crash of Comair Flight 3272 in January 1997 near Monroe, Michigan, which killed 29 people, to in-flight icing.

After the end of their passenger careers, many aircraft moved into the cargo business. Feeder services such as Ameriflight still used around ten Brasilia freighters in the early 2020s, as did smaller feeder operators. If you see a small low-wing aircraft with closed-off windows at a regional airport early in the morning or in the evening in the US, it is worth a second look.

The Brasilia in Europe

In Europe the Brasilia remained a sideshow, but it left traces. In Germany, DLT, the predecessor of today’s Lufthansa CityLine, ordered a first tranche of Brasilias in 1985. From October 1986 the aircraft flew in scheduled service, and the order was later increased to nine firm orders. Passengers used to jets, however, did not take well to the turboprop, and from 1989 the aircraft were leased out completely to other operators.

In France, Régional and Air Littoral used the type; Air Littoral lost a Brasilia in an approach accident in Bordeaux in December 1987. In Belgium DAT flew the EMB 120. In Spain Swiftair operated about ten Brasilias as freighters before the airline retired the type in 2023; some of the aircraft went to the Greek subsidiary Swiftair Hellas. According to a 2018 operator list, a Hungarian operator in Budapest also used the type.

You can get an overview of the continent’s regional airlines in the article Regional airlines in Europe.

Region	Chance of a sighting (as of October 2026)	Why
Germany, Austria, Switzerland	very low	No scheduled operator, at most ferry, cargo or charter flights
Southern Europe	low	Isolated cargo and charter operators in recent years
USA	low to medium	Cargo feeders at regional airports
Australia, Caribbean, Africa	medium	Small regional and charter operators still use the type in places

Operators worldwide today

Away from North America and Europe, the Brasilia is found mainly where robust, fast turboprops for small airfields are in demand. Operator lists from the late 2010s name Airnorth and Skippers Aviation in Australia, interCaribbean Airways in the Caribbean, and operators in Africa and the Middle East, among others.

There are also air forces: the Brazilian Air Force has listed about 20 aircraft in its inventory as transports and as the VC-97 VIP aircraft, and Uruguay and Angola have also used the type. You can judge how rare your sighting is with the guide How rare is my sighting?.

Spotting tips for the Brasilia

Because Brasilias today mostly operate outside fixed scheduled timetables, you need a bit of detective work.

Cargo feeders often fly at the edges of the day. For a single aircraft it is worth tracking its registration specifically – the guide Tracking an aircraft by registration shows how. You can find general tips on live tracking under Flight tracking with ADS-B.

Photo tips for the Brasilia

Which gear you need is covered in the plane spotting gear checklist. And if you are just getting started, Plane spotting for beginners gets you on track quickly.

Ruling out common mix-ups

Conclusion

The EMB 120 Brasilia stands for an important stage in Embraer’s history: the turboprop with which the manufacturer conquered the North American regional market and on which the regional jets were later built. Recognizing it is easy – low wing, T-tail, four-blade propellers. Finding it is harder: in Germany, Austria and Switzerland it is a real oddity today, while in the US, Australia and the Caribbean you can still find it as a freighter or feeder with a bit of planning.