Brazilian multinational aerospace corporation Embraer SA has set up a fully-owned Indian subsidiary in India, and is eyeing opportunities with Air India and IndiGo, CEO Francisco Gomes Neto told PTI in an interview.
According to Neto, Embraer sees opportunities in commercial and business jets, military aircraft, and the Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) segments in India, the report added.
Embraer makes India entry — deals with IndiGo, AI soon?
In an exclusive interview to PTI, Neto told the agency that the company is exploring possibility to supply its E195-E2 aircrafts (up to 146 seats depending on the configuration) to Indian aviation giants IndiGo and Air India.
He said Embraer will position a procurement team to check opportunities in the Indian supply chain and look at the possibility of procuring components and services from India. The company is hiring people in India for government relations, communications, procurement and engineering, sales and marketing teams, he added.
Also speaking to PTI, Raul Villaron, SVP Sales & Marketing and Head of Region for Asia Pacific at Embraer Commercial Aviation also confirmed that talks are on with IndiGo and Air India.
“A majority of the unserved markets in India are either too thin for the narrow-body aircraft or too long for turboprops. So the E2 is right in the sweet spot … The E2 has a very competitive seat cost, which allows us to be more competitive in the Indian market,” Villaron added.
‘See a lot of opportunities in the future’, says CEO
“India is the third largest market in aviation globally… we see a lot of opportunities for us in the future in this market for all the products we have, the different business units, commercial jets, business jets, military aircraft and eVTOLs. That’s why we want to really to deepen our collaboration with the country and this step of opening a subsidiary in India,” Neto said.
At present, around 50 Embraer aircraft and 11 aircraft types are operating in India across commercial and business aviation, and defence segments.
In the civilian aircraft space, Embraer planes are operated by regional carrier Star Air and entities are also using the company’s business jets.
On whether Embraer will look to set up a MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facility for civilian planes in India, Neto said it will depend on the aircraft orders.
Embraer’s significant presence in Indian defence space
In 2024, Embraer Defense & Security and Mahindra Defence Systems signed a MoU to evaluate the opportunity to jointly pursue the Indian Air Force’s Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA) programme with the C-390 Millennium.
The Embraer aircraft operated by Indian forces include the Legacy 600 aircraft used for the transportation of government officials and VIPs by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Border Security Force (BSF), and also the Netra AEW&C aircraft based on the Embraer ERJ145 platform operated by the IAF.
With respect to business jet segment, Neto said there will be much more opportunities with a few changes in the regulations.
Globally, there is an increasing interest in eVTOL (electric Vertical Take Off and Landing) aircraft, which are also seen as a key solution for urban mobility.