Embraer banks on Farnborough Airshow to boost C-390 cargo plane sales

MELBOURNE, Australia — Ahead of the 2024 Farnborough International Airshow near London next week, Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer has provided the strongest hints yet that it sees additional orders for its C-390 Millenium tactical airlifter to come from the event.

Speaking to reporters at Embraer’s civil aircraft production facility in São José dos Campos last month, the company’s president and CEO, Francisco Gomes, said that C-390 has “a good sales momentum” and he is “very excited” about further opportunities in coming years.

“Farnborough will be the best show ever for Embraer ,” Gomes predicted.

Embraer will display two C-390s at the show, representing the first two customers – Brazil and Portugal.

Embraer holds 40 commitments for the turbofan-powered C-390 and on June 26 it delivered the second of five aircraft to the Portuguese Air Force. Portugal’s aircraft are “NATO Standard” aircraft with Link 16 and NATO-compatible communications and encryption systems.

“The Portuguese opened the door for us in the NATO community and we’re expanding our relationship with the Portuguese government and Portuguese Air Force,” Bosca da Costa Jr., head of Embraer’s defense and security arm, told Defense News.

“We’re expecting to deliver two additional units: one for Hungary and another for Brazil (and) we’re expecting to end 2024 with ten aircraft in service around the globe.”

NATO countries form one of four strategic markets for the C-390 identified by Embraer, with the others including India, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

India is looking to replace its Soviet-era Antonov An-32 transports under Delhi’s Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA) program, and da Costa says it has a requirement for between 40 and 80 aircraft, with a decision anticipated in the next two to four years. To meet the government’s “Make in India” requirements, Embraer has teamed with Mahindra Aerospace.

“We have a strong localization plan as a requirement in this campaign, and that’s the reason Embraer has chosen Mahindra as a partner,” da Costa said. “We’re shaping the campaign together and, if successful, we are expecting to establish a final assembly line for the aircraft in India.

While da Costa says Saudi Arabia doesn’t yet have an open tender for its C-130 Hercules replacement program, he sees a potential for about 25 C-390s.

“We’re in an early engagement phase with them and we’re also expecting a decision in the next two to four years,” he said.

Da Costa adds that the United States is another important potential market for the C-390.

“We believe the C-390 will play an important role in the U.S. market and we are there trying to pitch the C-390 to the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command, because we do believe the C-390 would add additional value to those entities,” he said.

Overall, da Costa sees a potential market for 500 aircraft over the next 20 years, as countries seek to replace their ageing fleets of C-130s and Russian transport aircraft. Of this total, he estimates 206 aircraft will be needed in the near-term to replace aircraft that are already 45 years old.

“The C-390′s ready to capture a good portion of this market and that’s the reason we’re so optimistic about the future of this airplane,” he said. “In the coming months we are expecting to announce some good news and we’ll have more to share at Farnborough.”