E-Jets will debut in Argentina in 2010

SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil, May 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Embraer signed Austral Lineas Aereas, from Argentina, for the sale of 20 EMBRAER 190 jets. The contract will go into effect after fulfilling certain requirements, and that should take place within two months. Delivery is expected to begin in the first semester of 2010.

The contract signing ceremony was held in Argentina's Presidential Palace, and was attended by Argentina's President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner; the Minister of Defense, Nilda Garre; the Minister of Planning, Julio De Vido; the Secretary of Transportation, Ricardo Jaime; the President of the Aerolineas Argentinas/Austral Group, Julio Alak; and Brazil's Ambassador to Argentina, Mauro Vieira. Embraer was represented by its Executive Vice President - Airline Market, Mauro Kern, and Vice President, Contracts - Airline Market, Eduardo Munhos de Campos.

'We are very proud to premiere our E-Jets in Argentina and to participate in the renovation of the fleet of this internationally renowned airline,' said Mauro Kern, Embraer Executive Vice President, Airline Market. 'We expect to establish a long-term relationship with this important airline, supporting its operations with the modern and comfortable EMBRAER 190 jets.'

The airplanes will be the AR (Advanced Range) model, which allows flights of up to 2,400 nautical miles (4,400 km), and will have a comfortable dual-class 96-seat configuration. Passengers will have available to them an onboard entertainment system with individual monitors.

Austral plans to use the EMBRAER 190 jets mainly to ramp up its frequencies on domestic routes, with the potential of opening new markets, thus allowing the airline to fly nonstop routes inside Argentina, as well as destinations in South America.

Parallel to and independently of negotiating the aircraft for Austral, Embraer and the Argentine government, through its Minister of Defense, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in support of the development and technological enabling of Area Material Cordoba (AMC), for the purpose of supplying services and parts for Embraer aircraft in the future, according to market and competition practices.

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SOURCE Embraer