When the Embraer 175 entered the scene, the aviation industry expected a complementary model to the E170. The new variant eclipsed the original model in sales and quickly became the most popular E-Jet.
Embraer has sold 848 units of the E175, and it is the only member of the original family to not have been replaced by the E-Jet E2 in the production lines.
Bottom Line Up Front
The Embraer 175 is a short-haul airliner with a capacity of 76 to 88 passengers. With 848 sales, this is the most successful Brazilian airliner in the world.
Embraer 175 / Specs
The Embraer 175 is a short-haul airliner that seats 76 to 88 passengers, depending on the seating arrangement.
The E175 has a maximum takeoff weight of 89000 lbs. The jet has a base operating weight of 48260 lbs with a maximum payload of 22290 lbs. The fuel tanks hold up to 20580 lbs in the base version of the aircraft.
The cabin of the Embraer 175 feels much roomier than most competing regional jets due to the arrangement the company chose. The interior is 6 ft 7 in tall and 9 ft wide, with a flat floor on the 19.75-inch corridor.
On the outside, the fuselage is 103 ft 11 in long, compared to 98 ft 1 in on the initial Embraer 170 model. The E175 has a wingspan of 85 ft 4 in, sharing the wing with the E170. Its wing area measures 783 sq ft, with an aspect ratio of 9.3.
Embraer fitted four vortilons below the wing to enhance boundary layer control. The deicing of aerodynamic surfaces uses engine bleed air.
Embraer picked the General Electric CF34 high-bypass turbofan engines to power the E175. The Embraer 170 and 175 use a pair of CF34-8E, with a thrust rating of 14500 lbf per engine and a bypass ratio of 5:1. The CF34-8E features a full authority digital engine control (FADEC).
This CF34 family entered the market with the Bombardier Challenger 601 business jet, an improved variant of the Challenger 600. The CF34-8E is the definitive version of the engine, carrying over improvements from previous variants that led to remarkable reliability and performance.
General Electric Aviation modified the access doors to make maintenance easier on the Embraer 175 mount. The CF34-8E first flew in 2002 and reached certification later that year.
Given the success of the Honeywell avionics suite on the ERJ series, it should be no surprise that Embraer continued the partnership into the E-Jets. The E175 features a Honeywell Primus Epic glass cockpit with five displays. Embraer picked a digital fly-by-wire for pitch and yaw, with direct control ailerons.
The arrangement is also present on other E-Jet variants. A series of human errors caused a serious incident involving a Kazakh E190 where reversed aileron controls almost led to a crash.
In spite of the safe landing at the Embraer factory strip in Évora, the aircraft never flew again due to the stress. The E-Jet E2 series replaced the conventional aileron controls with a closed-loop fly-by-wire system.
One quirk of the E175 and its original E-Jet peers is that the main gear legs retract into the wing but have no gear doors. Embraer contracted European multinational company Liebherr to provide the landing gear on the E175.
Embraer 175 / Prices
Alaska Airlines placed the last Embraer 175 order in July 2022. The company signed an agreement for up to 21 aircraft, of which 13 are options. If Alaska Air Group were to turn all options into firm orders, this would cost $1.12 billion.
In this contract, the approximate price for the Embraer 175 is $53.3 million per aircraft. The reliability and low costs of the E175 show the rising price tag. In 2015, American Airlines paid only $47 million per unit.
Embraer planned to sell the next generation E175-E2 for the same listing price as the original model. The lack of commercial interest delayed the introduction of the jet until 2027, so airlines looking for solutions in the E175 class may turn to the old warrior. Embraer remains open to 175 orders.
Embraer 175 / Performance and Handling
Like most regional airliners, the Embraer 175 has a cruise speed of Mach 0.78, with economic cruise clocking in at Mach 0.75. The maximum allowable Mach number is Mach 0.82, and the jet reaches its service ceiling at 41000 ft.
The E175 has a range of 2200 nautical miles with passengers, including fuel for a divert field 100 nm away and standard mission reserves.
At its maximum takeoff weight, the baseline E175 requires 5656 ft of the runway, whereas the E175AR needs 7362 ft. Their landing performance is broadly identical, set at 4131 ft and 4137 ft.
The Embraer E175-E2 boasts very similar performance numbers compared to its predecessor. Its main advantage is the dramatically lower fuel consumption due to the PW1715G geared turbofans.
All E-Jet aircraft have similar handling characteristics and share a type rating. Many pilots report the transition from the ERJ series is smooth despite the E175 sporting a completely different aerodynamic configuration.
The Honeywell avionics on both jets are similar, and the E175 retains the trademark M-shaped yoke introduced in the EMB-120 BrasÃlia. The Brazilian company paid great attention to keeping cockpit flows similar to making pilots feel at home in any Embraer airliner.
Embraer 175 / Modifications and Upgrades
Embraer E175
The Embraer E175 uses the in-house designation of ERJ 170-200, showing its heritage as a stretched E170. The aircraft has remained mostly intact throughout its service. After the original E175, Embraer completed certification for the E175SC (Special Configuration) in 2018.
This variant came about as a response to union scope clauses in major American carriers, reducing the passenger capacity to 70 while retaining the improved performance of the E175 over the E170.
Starting in 2014, Embraer began fitting the E175 with winglets unique to the variant, replacing the original ones inherited from the E170. The change marginally increased the wingspan and lowered fuel consumption.
Embraer E175-E2
The new generation of turbofan engines pushed Embraer to follow the steps of Boeing, Airbus, and Bombardier to develop the E-Jet of the future.
The E-Jet E2 family gives the E175, E190, and E195 extensive refinements well beyond the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G geared turbofan family. Embraer has found many clients for the E190-E2 and E195-E2, but the company’s expectations fell flat for the E175-E2.
The aircraft made its maiden flight in 2019, but a lack of buyers forced Embraer to delay its introduction until 2027. I find the fate of the E175-E2 tragic, but it comes from a fundamentally wrong prediction.
Embraer expected negotiations to alter the scope clauses in the American market, so the company added another row of passengers to the E175-E2. The smallest E-Jet E2 may find a home before 2027, but there is a chance the program will end with no sales.
Embraer 175 / Where to Find Replacement Parts
Ease of maintenance is one of the main selling points of the Embraer E175. The popularity of the jet has spawned service centers worldwide and guaranteed a steady stream of parts. The Embraer 175 also enjoys 95% of parts commonality with the smaller E170, which remains popular in North America due to the scope clauses.
In its 2017 Reference Guide, Embraer Commercial Aviation listed dozens of service centers that stock parts and are certified to work with the Embraer E175. Six of these facilities are both owned and operated by Embraer.
The factory in Évora, Portugal, has become a global hub. E-Jets arriving there for scheduled maintenance come from all over Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia.
Smaller airlines are particularly fond of Embraer customer service due to measures taken to lessen the logistical burden. The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer implemented the Embraer Pool Program, a maintenance program that centralized the logistics chain.
Embraer stocks large numbers of spare parts and delivers them to operators as needed. Over 50 airlines have joined the Embraer Pool Program since its inception.
Embraer 175 / Common Problems
Most operators cherish the Embraer E175 for its reliability and ease of maintenance, but like any commercial airliner, there have been teething issues.
One of the early issues was linked to how Embraer customer service worked rather than the aircraft itself. When the E175 entered the scene, Embraer had over two decades of experience serving regional airlines.
As a rule, most regional airlines have small or no organic engineering structure, so they rely directly on manufacturer instructions and support for most maintenance tasks.
Embraer had arguably perfected the regional approach, but it did not translate well once the E-Jet reached mainline carriers. These airlines traditionally have large engineering departments with the know-how and authority to override or modify aircraft maintenance and operation procedures.
Because Embraer had maintained a hands-on approach for most of its time until then, many engineers found the maintenance manuals too vague. Embraer worked with the companies to rectify these grievances, and the revised manuals now explain procedures better.
The digitalized nature of the Embraer 175 led to an amusing software glitch early on. By design, after the crew activated the parking brake, the aircraft computer prepared the jet for ground maintenance. The system then needs to be reset by the maintenance crews before the next departure.
The logic is sound, but the designers ignored that many pilots used the parking brake before departure, especially in busy airports. Those transitioning to the E175 from other types found themselves waiting in the departure queues with their jets stuck in maintenance mode.
Crews quickly took note of this and stopped using the parking brake. A software upgrade from Embraer helped eliminate other software issues that forced maintenance intervention.
At the maintenance shops, this reliance on software also causes minor annoyances to the teams. The aircraft maintenance computer tracks every component installed and requires a system reset to register new items. Technicians find it annoying to run a reset when replacing a single part.
As of 2022, there have been no major accidents involving the Embraer E175. The most serious incident happened in December 2016, when a United Express E175 suffered a nose gear collapse in San Antonio, Texas.
The investigation pointed to a faulty lock spring, which prevented the nose gear from staying in position after deploying. All passengers survived the injury, with one minor injury sustained during the evacuation.
In 2019, an American Eagle E175 struggled with controllability issues after takeoff and had to return to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport immediately.
The crew noticed uncommanded pitch inputs and struggled to keep the plane from stalling. After a few minutes of struggling, the pilots brought the aircraft down safely and without damage.
The postflight examination found the insulation wires around the horizontal stabilizer had chaffed, causing an unintended connection with the trim on the pilot.
The cause of the chaffing was a poorly tucked safety wire in the vicinity. Further investigation also found the trim switch had been installed backward sometime before the incident, but this had not caused functionality issues.
Embraer 175 / Resale Value
The rising demand for aircraft in this segment has made the Embraer 175 a rare commodity in the second-hand market. The type is widespread and features in the portfolios of many leasing companies, but while adding the E175 to your fleet temporarily is easy, buying them is a different story.
According to Aerocorner, a used Embraer E175 can fetch over $30 million. Charter and lease companies are quick to snap up any E175 that pops up on the market due to the demand and popularity of the type.
An Ishka Global investigation during the 2020 airline crisis showed the monthly lease rates for the E175 had stayed firm at a time when other aircraft dropped by as much as 50%. The monthly lease price for an Embraer 175 produced in 2005 sat around $80000, and up to $120000 for a jet built in 2014.
Embraer 175 / Similar Aircraft
The primary competitor of the Embraer 175 is the Bombardier CRJ900 regional jet. Embraer and Bombardier had been duking it out for the regional market for decades by the time the E-Jet entered the scene.
The Dash 8 initially clashed with the EMB-120 BrasÃlia for the regional market. While their sales performance was comparable, the Canadian offering had more room to grow.
In the 1990s, Bombardier launched revised versions of the propliner and expanded the seating capacity. Embraer used the experience gained with the BrasÃlia to hit back with the ERJ (Embraer Regional Jet) family.
The ERJ line was an overwhelming success, matching the low costs of the Dash 8 but with the performance perks of a jet airliner. However, delays in the ERJ-145 introduction had given the Canadian manufacturer time to field the CRJ100 and CRJ200. These aircraft transformed the Challenger 600 business jet into a regional airliner.
By the turn of the century, Embraer and Bombardier were plotting their next step, the Embraer E-Jet, and Bombardier CRJ700 families. The similarities are easy to find. Both are regional airliners with similar capacity and range, and they share the General Electric CF34 family of engines.
The closest analog to the Embraer 175 is the CRJ900. Both typically seat 76 passengers and have a cruise speed of Mach 0.78 and a top speed of Mach 0.82. The CRJ900 uses the CF34-8C variant of the engine, which is 150 lbs lighter while delivering the same thrust and fuel consumption. The installation on the CRJ900 is slightly larger.
The main weakness of the CRJ900 compared to the E175 is the range. The Embraer offering can fly out to 2200 nautical miles, compared to an underwhelming 1550 for the Bombardier, opening up more routes for the E175.
On the other hand, the CRJ900 boasts significantly reduced runway requirements, with a takeoff run of 5820 ft. The Embraer 175 needs 7320 ft in the same conditions. This short runway capability lets the CRJ cover remote airports better.
While Bombardier brought an excellent airliner to the table, the market performance sways in favor of Embraer. As of 2022, Embraer sold 848 E175, compared to 487 CRJ900 orders. The rivalry between companies lives on, with Embraer pushing the E-Jet E2 family against the CSeries, a Bombardier project acquired by Airbus and rebranded into the A220.
Two unusual offerings have risen to challenge the Embraer 175 in eastern markets. Russian manufacturer Sukhoi entered the civilian market with the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (often abbreviated to SSJ100).
This aircraft boasts a similar aerodynamic configuration to the E175 and uses the PowerJet SaM146 engines, the result of a joint venture between French manufacturer Snecma and Russian bureau NPO Saturn.
The Russian jet has a slightly higher passenger capacity than the E175, with 87 passengers in a two-class arrangement, but exceeds the range of the Brazilian airliner by nearly 300 nautical miles.
Armenian airline Armavia was the launch customer in 2011. The Sukhoi Superjet 100 found teething issues that affected commercial performance. Operators found their fleets grounded multiple times, and some executives have complained the maintenance issues make the operational costs of the SSJ100 unaffordable.
Many airlines gave up on their Superjet 100 fleets and canceled outstanding orders, with only 167 deliveries out of 367 initial orders (including options).
In China, Comac introduced the ARJ21 in 2016, with local Chengdu Airlines serving as the launch customer. The ARJ21-700 is the closest competitor of the Embraer E175, with a two-class capacity of 78 passengers. The baseline range was only 1200 nautical miles, but this grew to 2000 nmi with the ARJ21-700ER.
The Chinese regional airliner also uses the CF34 engines. While nominally part of the same family, the CF34-10 is more of a downscaled CF56 than an upscaled CF34. The version fitted to the ARJ21-700 has a thrust rating of 17057 lbs per engine.
As of October 2022, Comac had sold 167 aircraft plus 25 in options, with 79 deliveries. Despite the encouraging numbers in the Chinese market, the ARJ21 has yet to debut abroad. Airlines in Indonesia and Malaysia are reportedly interested in the type but have yet to place a firm order.
FAQs
Question: What is the Difference between the Embraer E175 and E170?
Answer: The Embraer E170 is the original variant of the E-Jet series. The E175 is the stretched version with increased passenger capacity. Embraer sold 848 E175 and 191 E170.
Question: Is the Embraer E175 Still in Production?
Answer: As of June 2022, Embraer had a backlog of 143 aircraft. Later that year, Alaska Airlines ordered eight more aircraft, while Republic Airways reduced its order backlog from 100 to 69 units. The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer delivered 21 jets in Q3 2022.
Question: How many Passengers does the Embraer E175 Carry?
Answer: The typical layout is a two-class arrangement with 12 first-class seats and 64 economy ones. It is possible to have up to 88 passengers in a single class.
Question: What Happened to the Embraer E175-E2?
Answer: Embraer planned to replace the E175 with the newer E175-E2 in production until the lack of market interest forced the company to freeze the program until 2027.
Question: What is the Top Speed of the Embraer E175?
Answer: The Embraer E175 has a maximum Mach number of 0.82. This limit is the same for all members of the E-Jet family, including the E2 series.
References:
- https://www.embraercommercialaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Embraer_spec_175_web.pdf
- https://www.geaerospace.com/sites/default/files/datasheet-CF34-8E.pdf
- http://www.embraercommercialaviation.com/AircraftPDF/E175_Cabin.pdf
- https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/230478
- https://www.aerfin.com/latest/interviews-articles/high-utilisation-keeps-e175-lease-rates-buoyant/
- https://www.ishkaglobal.com/News/Article/6282/High-utilisation-keeps-E175-lease-rates-buoyant
- https://simpleflying.com/republic-airways-reduces-embraer-e175-order/
- https://centreforaviation.com/news/embraer-delivers-10-commercial-aircraft-in-3q2022-1169758
- https://www.falko.com/falko-adds-three-embraer-e175-aircraft-to-its-portfolio-on-lease/
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