Embraer's 190 freighter aircraft conversion has been certified by Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) and the firm is hoping to gain other key approvals this year.
The E190 conversion, which is being marketed as the E-Freighter, carries around 13.5 tonnes of cargo and will target the e-commerce market's need for fast delivery of shipments to secondary and tertiary markets.
It conducted its first flight in April and is this week debuting to the public at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK.
The aircraft manufacturer said the E190 is due to receive approval from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the US Federal Aviation Authority later this year and for the cargo loading system shortly after.
The freighter was "developed to fill a gap in the air cargo market and to replace older less efficient models", Embraer said.
In terms of size, it will sit between larger turboprop and smaller jet-engined freighter aircraft, which have a capacity of about 9.2 and 18.8 tonnes respectively.
Arjan Meijer, president and chief executive of Embraer Commercial Aviation, said: “The E-Freighter marks Embraer´s first step into the cargo market. After celebrating the first flight in April, it’s a further boost to receive type certification for our newest programme now.
"The aircraft has been very well received this week by potential customers seeing our E-Freighter for the first time in Farnborough. This is a segment that has tremendous potential, and gives a new life to the earliest E-Jets that are just now moving into the typical replacement phase.”
Embraer claims that E-Jets converted to freighters will have over 40% more volume capacity and three times the range of large cargo turboprops, while also offering 30% lower operating costs than larger narrowbodies.
The first customer for the freighter is US lessor Regional One.
https://www.aircargonews.net/airlines/embraer-e190-p2f-is-faa-certified/
