Embraer

As of October 2026 – A compact jet taxis to the runway, four seats per row, engines under the wings, the wingtips long and raked: an Embraer E195-E2. A few hours later, a Phenom 300 with tail-mounted engines lands at the same airport, and somewhere in Portugal a gray transport with a rear ramp and two jets takes off – it, too, comes from Brazil. Embraer is the manufacturer with perhaps the widest range below Airbus and Boeing. If you know the few basic shapes, you can place most Embraer aircraft in seconds.

From state-owned company to world market leader in regional jets

Embraer’s story begins with an aircraft that is older than the company itself. At the state aerospace research center CTA in São José dos Campos, engineers developed a small feeder turboprop in the 1960s. On October 26, 1968, the prototype of the EMB 110 Bandeirante flew. To build it in series, the Brazilian government founded the Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica – Embraer for short – on August 19, 1969. The driving force was the engineer and air force officer Ozires Silva, who led the company in its first years.

The Bandeirante entered service in 1973 with the air force and with the airline Transbrasil and sold around 500 units by 1990, including to Europe and the USA. With the EMB 120 Brasilia, a turboprop with a pressurized cabin and around 30 seats followed in the 1980s, becoming a workhorse above all with US regional airlines. In parallel, Embraer built military trainers, agricultural aircraft and, under license, light aircraft from Piper.

In the early 1990s, the state-owned company was in a deep crisis. On December 7, 1994, Embraer was privatized; the state kept only a so-called golden share, which gives it a veto on strategic decisions. Almost at the same time came the product that brought the turnaround: the ERJ 145, a 50-seat regional jet with tail-mounted engines. It first flew in August 1995 and, with its sisters the ERJ 135 and ERJ 140, became a bestseller – over 1,200 examples of the family were built before production ended in 2020.

Embraer made its big leap with the E-Jet family, officially launched at the Paris Air Show in 1999. Instead of a narrow fuselage with tail-mounted engines, it got a cabin with four seats per row and engines under the wings – basically a scaled-down medium-haul jet. With it, Embraer pushed into the gap between classic regional jets and the smallest Airbus or Boeing. In May 2024, the company delivered the 1,800th E-Jet. How the family grew into its second generation is covered below.

In 2018, independence seemed to be ending: Boeing wanted to take the majority of Embraer’s commercial aircraft division. In April 2020, though, Boeing pulled out. Embraer stayed independent, and the dispute over the failed takeover ended in 2024 with a payment of $150 million to Embraer. Since then the company has been growing strongly again: in 2025, according to its annual results, it delivered 244 aircraft, of them 78 airliners, 155 business jets and 11 military aircraft.

The families at a glance

For you at the fence, it helps to think of Embraer in families. Each group has its own basic shape, and within the group, fuselage length and wingtips usually decide.

Add special models such as the Legacy 600, a business jet based on the ERJ 135, and the Lineage 1000, a VIP version of the E190 that was built only in small numbers. Neither is sold anymore, but both still fly.

Commercial Aviation: E-Jets and the second generation

The first E-Jet generation consists of two pairs. The short E170 and E175 fly with General Electric CF34-8E engines, the long E190 and E195 with the more powerful CF34-10E. Scheduled service was opened on March 17, 2004 by Poland’s LOT with an E170. The US airline JetBlue put the E190 into service in 2005.

The E175 remains the best-selling member of the family to this day – and that is down to the USA. There, so-called scope clauses in the major airlines’ pilot contracts limit how big and heavy their regional partners’ aircraft may be. The E175 fits exactly into that grid. Regional airlines like SkyWest and Republic Airways therefore fly huge E175 fleets for United, Delta and American.

In June 2013, Embraer launched the second generation, the E-Jets E2. New are the wings, engines, landing gear and flight controls; what remained is the fuselage cross-section with the 2+2 cabin. The engines now come from Pratt & Whitney from the PW1900G geared turbofan series.

• The E190-E2 first flew on May 23, 2016, received certification in Brazil, the USA and Europe at the same time in February 2018 and went to Norway’s Widerøe in April 2018.
• The E195-E2 flew in March 2017, at a good 41.5 meters is the longest Embraer airliner and offers up to 146 seats. The first operator in 2019 was Brazil’s Azul, the first European customer Binter Canarias.
• The E175-E2 has flown, but its development is on hold: it is too heavy for the US scope clauses. Until further notice, Embraer keeps building the old E175 there.

The E195-E2 is now the division’s workhorse. In Europe, KLM Cityhopper, Helvetic Airways, Luxair and Binter, among others, operate it; SAS ordered 45 aircraft for SAS Link in 2025, and Finnair followed in 2026 with 18 firm orders.

How to recognize Embraer airliners

Identification takes a few steps. The key is to determine the family first and only then the model.

The finer differences, for example between the E170 and E175 or between the winglet variants E75S and E75L, are covered in the guide Telling E-Jets and E2s apart. How Embraer differs from the CRJ, A220 and others is shown in the article Recognizing regional jets.

Executive Jets: Phenom and Praetor

Less well known, but omnipresent for spotters at business jet airports: Embraer is also a major manufacturer of business aircraft. In 2025, with 155 aircraft, this division even accounted for more than half of all deliveries. The entry came with the ERJ-based Legacy, presented at the Farnborough Airshow in 2000. After that, Embraer developed business jets of its own from the ground up.

The Phenom 100 first flew in 2007, the larger Phenom 300 in 2008. Both are certified for single-pilot operation. The Phenom 300 has been considered the world’s most-delivered light jet for years and flies, among others, with fractional providers like NetJets and Flexjet. For the US market, Phenoms have also been final-assembled in Melbourne, Florida, since 2011.

One class up play the Praetor 500 and Praetor 600, unveiled in October 2018 as further developments of the Legacy 450 and 500. They fly with fly-by-wire and sidesticks, and the Praetor 600 manages a good 4,000 nautical miles according to the manufacturer.

How to tell business jets from different manufacturers apart is explained in the article Telling business jet types apart; where you are most likely to find them is covered in Spotting business jets.

Defense & Security: C-390 and Super Tucano

The third pillar is the defense division. Its best-known product for spotters in Europe is the C-390 Millennium, a tactical transport with two jet engines, a high-mounted wing, a T-tail and a rear ramp. The prototype flew on February 3, 2015, and it is built at the Gavião Peixoto plant. The first series aircraft went to the Brazilian Air Force in September 2019. The project was originally called the KC-390; today that designation is carried by aircraft with aerial refueling equipment.

In Europe, the C-390 has had a remarkable career. Portugal has flown it since 2023 from Beja air base, and Embraer subsidiary OGMA makes components for it. Hungary has taken both ordered aircraft at Kecskemét since November 2025. The Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and the Czech Republic have also ordered. According to the Austrian armed forces, Austria’s four aircraft are delivered from 2028 to Hörsching near Linz – the most exciting news for spotters in the DACH region.

Embraer also builds the A-29 Super Tucano turboprop, a light ground-attack and trainer aircraft flown by numerous air forces in Latin America, Africa and Asia. It is rarely seen in Europe. How to tell the C-390 from the C-130 Hercules and A400M is shown in the article Recognizing military transports. Before you photograph at a military airfield, be sure to read Photographing at military airfields.

Where you see Embraer in Europe

Unlike with ATR, you don’t have to travel to the edge of Europe for Embraer jets. E-Jets in particular are an everyday sight at German, Austrian and Swiss airports. As of October 2026, these operators are especially productive for you:

The surest address is Schiphol: KLM Cityhopper is among Europe’s largest E2 operators, and from the Polderbaan spotting spot you see the jets up close on landings. In Switzerland, Zurich offers good views of the Helvetic fleet from Observation deck B and the Butzenbüel. In Munich, the visitors’ hill is worth it for Air Dolomiti’s E195. How the wet lease arrangements behind many Embraer flights work is explained in the article Wet lease explained.

If you want to see where Embraer comes from, plan a trip to Brazil. At São Paulo-Guarulhos Airport you meet Azul’s E-Jets and E2s; the main plant in São José dos Campos is in the same state, east of the metropolis. For the C-390, Portugal is the obvious destination; the Museu do Ar in Sintra combines well with a detour to Beja.

Embraer compared with Airbus, Boeing and others

Embraer occupies a niche that is surprisingly large. At the upper end, the E195-E2 competes directly with the Airbus A220-300, which Airbus took over from Bombardier. At the lower end, the E175 borders on the CRJ family such as the CRJ900, which is no longer built. Turboprops like the ATR 72 or the Dash 8 from De Havilland Canada serve shorter routes with fewer passengers.

On the business jet side, Embraer meets Textron with the Citation family, Bombardier, Gulfstream and Dassault. And in military transport, the C-390 goes up against Lockheed Martin’s Hercules and the A400M. No other manufacturer plays in all these fields at once with comparably modern types.

Photo tips for Embraer jets

Verdict

In a good five decades, Embraer has developed from a state-owned turboprop builder into the third big name in airliner building. The ERJ 145 brought the breakthrough, the E-Jets made Embraer the first choice between 70 and 150 seats, and with the E2 family, the Phenom and Praetor business jets and the C-390, the lineup is broader today than ever.

For spotters, that’s a stroke of luck. E-Jets land daily at German airports, business jets are frequent visitors, and the C-390 is becoming more visible in Europe year after year. If you keep an eye on engine position, wingtips and fuselage length and cross-check the type designator, you can place almost every Embraer cleanly.