The Embraer 170 is introduced into the fleet of British Airways Subsidiary BA Cityflyer on this day in aviation history as it takes delivery of their first Embraer 170.
The Embraer 170 is one of the members of the Embraer E-Jet family. Embraer introduced the E-jet family at the Paris Airshow in 1999 starting production 3 years later, in 2002. The Embraer 170 was the successor of the terminated EMB 170 program. This aircraft was to have a larger fuselage diameter, a new wing while retaining the cockpit of the ERJ 145.
In early 1999 Embraer announced the termination of the project, followed by the E-Jet family launch (then the ERJ-170 and ERJ-190) at that year's Air Show in Paris. These designations would later be changed into Embraer 170 (E170) and Embraer 190 (E190). In July 2000 production of the prototype started, and on the 29th of October 2001 PP-XJE, manufacturer serial number (MSN) 001, was rolled out of the production hangar. After ground testing, the first flight took off on the 19th of February 2002.
The first production aircraft was delivered to LOT Polish Airlines in March 0f 2004, with the first commercial flight of an E-jet by LOT on the 17th of March. From that point on the E-Jets (including the E175, E190, E195) would roll off the production line one after another.
In 2008 the 400th member of the family to Republic Airline in the US.
September 2009 saw the 600th E-jet being delivered to LOT Polish Airlines. 3 years later, October 2012 saw the delivery of the 900th E-jet to Kenya Airways.
Further highlights saw the 1000th delivery on the 13th of September 2013, and the 1500th delivery in December 2018.
On the 31st of March 2021, Embraer had delivered 1586 aircraft of the E-jet family, with 133 aircraft still on order,
A comparison of specifications of the 4 different E-jet family members;
Embraer has developed a new version of the E-jets family, the E-jet E2 family with upgraded engines and avioncs. More on this family of aircraft in a later blog!
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