Telling Embraer E-Jets apart: E170, E175, E190, E195 and E2

A slim jet taxis to the runway: four seats per row, engines under the wing, a perfectly ordinary tail and a small, round nose. That this is an Embraer E-Jet you see quickly. Which one exactly is the real challenge – because six variants in two generations share fuselage cross-section, cockpit and basic shape. This guide shows you how to tell the E170, E175, E190, E195 and the E2 generation apart, in which order to check at the fence and which mix-ups happen most often.

The short answer

Check two things in this order:

1. Wingtips: Small, upward-curved winglets mean first generation (E170, E175, E190, E195). Long wings that end raked back at an angle without a winglet mean E2 (E190-E2, E195-E2).
2. Fuselage length: Within the generation, length decides. Short and stubby: E170 or E175. Clearly longer: E190. Strikingly stretched: E195 – on the E2 correspondingly E190-E2 or E195-E2.

Everything else – engine size, landing gear, the winglet shape of the E175 – you need to settle borderline cases with confidence.

One family, two sizes, two generations

Embraer planned the E-Jets as a true family. The prototype flew on February 19, 2002, and on March 17, 2004 LOT Polish Airlines opened scheduled service with the E170. The first flights of the other variants: E175 in June 2003, E190 in March 2004 and E195 in December 2004.

Important for identification: the first generation actually consists of two platforms. E170 and E175 share a smaller wing with a wingspan of about 26 meters and the CF34-8E engines. E190 and E195 have a larger wing of about 28.7 meters, a larger horizontal stabilizer, a reinforced landing gear and the stronger CF34-10E from GE Aerospace. According to Embraer statistics, around 1,770 aircraft of the first generation have been delivered, by far the most of them E175s.

The E2 generation brought new wings, new engines, a new landing gear and a revised flight control system from 2016. The E190-E2 first flew on May 23, 2016, the E195-E2 on March 29, 2017. A small E175-E2 did fly in 2019, but its program has been on ice since 2022 – you do not see it in scheduled service.

Variant	Length	Wingspan	Engines	ICAO code
E170	29.90 m	about 26.0 m	2 × CF34-8E	E170
E175	31.67 m	26.0 m or 28.65 m	2 × CF34-8E	E75S / E75L
E190	36.25 m	about 28.7 m	2 × CF34-10E	E190
E195	38.66 m	about 28.7 m	2 × CF34-10E	E195
E190-E2	about 36.2 m	33.72 m	2 × PW1900G	E290
E195-E2	41.51 m	35.12 m	2 × PW1900G	E295

Feature 1: wingtips separate the generations

No feature is as reliable as the wingtip – and none is as easy to see in photos, whether from the side, from below or at an angle from the front.

• First generation: At the end of the wing sits a small, add-on winglet pointing up. On the E170, older E175s, E190 and E195 it is short and stands fairly steep.
• Newer E175: Since 2014, Embraer has built the E175 with an efficiency package that includes much larger winglets angled outward. The wingspan grows from about 26 to 28.65 meters as a result. This shape exists only on the E175.
• E2: Here there is no winglet at all. The wings are much longer and slimmer and end in tips raked back at an angle, similar to the raked wingtips of large long-haul jets. The E195-E2 has somewhat longer tips than the E190-E2.

Especially in an overflight from below, the difference is enormous: the E2 wings look almost glider-like long in proportion to the fuselage. How the different wingtip shapes differ in general is explained in the article Winglets, sharklets and raked wingtips.

Feature 2: engines and landing gear give away the E2

If the wingtip is hard to see – for example when a jet taxis straight toward you – engines and landing gear help.

Engines. The first generation flies with General Electric engines of the CF34 series. The CF34-8E on the E170 and E175 are strikingly slim, the CF34-10E on the E190 and E195 somewhat more powerful but still compact. The E2, by contrast, carries geared turbofans of the PW1900G series from Pratt & Whitney with a fan about 1.9 meters in diameter. The nacelles look round and massive, almost oversized for the narrow fuselage. How to classify engines by nacelle, exhaust and fan is shown in the guide Recognizing engines.

Landing gear. So the large fans have enough ground clearance, the E2’s main landing gear is about 50 centimeters taller. The E2 therefore visibly stands “longer-legged” on the apron. It also got cover doors for the main gear bays: in flight, the wheels are covered from below. On the first generation, the retracted tires remain visible from below – a nice feature for photos on final approach or right after takeoff. You can read more about landing gear as an identifier in the post Landing gear as an identifying feature.

Feature 3: length within the generation

Once the generation is settled, you place the variant via fuselage length. Here it pays to think of the family in pairs.

E170 and E175: the small twins

These two are the hardest pairing. The E175 is an E170 stretched by just under 1.8 meters – a short section each ahead of and behind the wing. Engines, cockpit, wing and tail are the same. Both look compact, almost stubby, with a short fuselage section behind the wing.

You separate them reliably like this:

• Large, angled winglets: If the aircraft has them, it is a newer E175. An E170 always carries the small, steep winglets.
• Type code: E170 stands for the E170, E75S and E75L for the E175 with shorter or larger wingspan, respectively. How such codes are built is explained in the post ICAO type codes explained.
• Operator: The E170 is a phase-out model, while the E175 is the family’s bestseller – especially in the USA, where the big airlines’ pilot contracts limit regional jets to 76 seats and a maximum weight. The E175 fits exactly into this grid.

Telling older E175s with small winglets and E170s apart in direct comparison almost only works in photos if you count windows or look up the registration. Here the type code on the flight tracker is your best friend.

E190 and E195: long and longer

E190 and E195 share wing, engines, tail and cockpit; the E195 is only about 2.4 meters longer. Because the wingspan stays the same, the aspect ratio is the best hint here: the E190 looks balanced, the E195 long and stretched, almost like a tube with wings that are too small. When both stand side by side at the gate, as often happens at hubs such as Munich or Amsterdam, the difference is noticeable at once.

Both stand clearly apart from the E170 and E175: the E190 is already a good 4.5 meters longer than the E175, plus the larger wing and the thicker engines.

E190-E2 and E195-E2: the new generation

The E190-E2 has practically the fuselage length of the E190 – so length does not help you with the generation change, only wing, engines and landing gear. The E195-E2, by contrast, is again almost three meters longer than the E195 and at 41.51 meters the largest Embraer ever. Relative to the E190-E2, the length difference is a good five meters, which is easy to see even without a reference object.

Pair	Length difference	Best distinguishing feature
E170 / E175	just under 1.8 m	large angled winglets (newer E175), otherwise type code
E175 / E190	a good 4.5 m	length, larger wing, thicker engines
E190 / E195	about 2.4 m	aspect ratio of fuselage to wing
E190 / E190-E2	practically none	wingtips, engines, landing gear
E195 / E195-E2	just under 2.9 m	wingtips, engines, length
E190-E2 / E195-E2	a good 5 m	length, slightly larger wingspan

Do not confuse E-Jets with other types

Before you determine the variant, you should be sure an E-Jet is in front of you at all. Three mix-ups are common:

• ERJ 135/140/145: The older Embraer regional jet family has the engines at the rear and a T-tail. The ERJ 145 is also much narrower, with only three seats per row. It shares only the manufacturer with an E-Jet.
• Bombardier CRJ: The CRJ family also carries rear engines and a T-tail. A CRJ900 offers about as many seats as an E175 but looks completely different with its slim fuselage and tall T-tail. An overview of all regional jet families is given by the guide Recognizing regional jets.
• Airbus A220: The most dangerous mix-up, especially with the E2. The A220-300 also has engines under the wing, a conventional tail and large geared turbofans. But it has a thicker fuselage with five seats per row and a wider, blunter nose. An E-Jet looks narrow and tall by comparison, almost like a tube.

The typical E-Jet nose with its characteristic cockpit windows is also a good family feature – more in the post Recognizing aircraft types by nose and cockpit windows.

Where you see E-Jets in Europe

E-Jets are ubiquitous on feeder routes to the big hubs, but the fleets are currently changing a lot. As of October 2026, roughly this applies:

• KLM Cityhopper is the most versatile operator with E175, E190 and E195-E2. At Amsterdam Schiphol Airport you see three variants in the same livery – ideal for practice. In the long term, the airline wants to standardize the fleet on the E195-E2.
• Helvetic Airways flies the first and second generation side by side, a large part of it on wet lease for Swiss from Zurich Airport. Here a look at the wingtips is especially worthwhile, because the livery does not reveal the generation.
• Air Dolomiti uses E190 and E195 for the Lufthansa Group from Munich and Frankfurt. Austrian Airlines flies its E195s from Vienna and is gradually giving them up, with a large part of them moving to Air Dolomiti.
• LOT operated all four first-generation variants as launch customer and wants to replace the E-Jets with the Airbus A220.
• Binter Canarias and Luxair are among the European E195-E2 operators.

Good places for comparison are the Panoramaterras at Schiphol, the Butzenbüel in Zurich, the Munich Airport visitors’ hill and the spotters’ hill in Vienna. An overview of the airlines operating small jets in Europe is given by the post Regional airlines in Europe.

The safe order at the fence

How to find out type, operator and history of an individual aircraft via its registration is shown in the guide Finding and tracking an aircraft by registration.

Typical mistakes

• Looking only at length: E190 and E190-E2 are practically the same length. If you check only length, you overlook the generation change.
• Taking the livery as proof: Helvetic and KLM Cityhopper fly several variants in the same design. The paint says nothing about type or generation.
• Mistaking large E175 winglets for E2 tips: The angled winglets of newer E175s visibly point up. The E2 tip, by contrast, lies in the plane of the wing and sweeps back at an angle.
• Confusing E195-E2 and A220-300: Both are long and have geared turbofans. Pay attention to fuselage thickness and nose – the A220 is visibly wider.
• Logging an E175-E2: It does not fly in scheduled service. A short E2 at the fence is very likely an E190-E2.

Conclusion

At first glance, the E-Jets look like a single type in different lengths – with the right eye, though, they are easy to separate. The wingtips reveal the generation, engines and landing gear confirm it, and fuselage length places the variant. Only the E170 and older E175s remain a case for type code and registration. Because many European airlines are currently switching from the first generation to the E2 or the A220, it is worth collecting the older variants now. If you are still getting started in general, the guide Recognizing aircraft types for beginners is the right entry point.