Embraer confirmed on Oct. 18 that April 2018 will be the delivery date of the first E190-E2 to Widerøe, the aircraft’s launch operator. The announcement was made at a press briefing in Athens, Greece, during the annual general meeting of the European Regional Airline Association (ERA).

Widerøe, a regional airline in Scandinavia, will begin revenue service with the aircraft shortly afterwards.

“Since the program was launched, the first half of 2018 has been our target, and now we are making good on this commitment. This was only possible thanks to the excellence of our engineering process due to our unique experience in certifying 12 new aircraft in the last 17 years,” said John Slattery, president and chief executive officer of Embraer Commercial Aviation.

“From the beginning, the E2 program has been, and remains, on time, on budget and better than the initial specification. We’ll deliver to the market a mature and robust aircraft,” Slattery added.

Widerøe signed a contract with Embraer for up to 15 E2 jets consisting of three firm orders for the E190-E2, the first member of the second generation of the E-Jets family, and purchase rights for 12 further E2s. The order has a potential list price value of up to US$873 million, with all orders being exercised.

The airline is configuring the E190-E2s in a comfortable single-class layout with 114 seats.

Stein Nilsen, chief executive officer of Widerøe, said, “We have been working very closely with Embraer teams in order to guarantee a very smooth entry into service. We are eager for the coming months, when [we] will intensify the familiarization with the aircraft, with immersion training for the technical teams, ground handling, flight operations and cabin attendants.”

Embraer is a manufacturer of commercial jets with up to 150 seats. The company has 100 customers from all over the world operating the ERJ and the E-Jet families of aircraft. For the E-Jets program alone, Embraer has logged more than 1,800 orders and almost 1,400 deliveries, redefining the traditional concept of regional aircraft by operating across a range of business applications.