During last release of financial results, on Wednesday (27) of this week, the CEO of Embraer, Francisco Gomes Neto, returned to talk about the future turboprop of the company.
According to Francisco Gomes, the new project is really active, and “doing really well” so far. The project must be frozen until the end of the year, meanwhile, said the executive.
“The turboprop project is going very well. We are now in the process of defining a supplier for this aircraft. We're already doing tests with the concepts, so it's going really well. Furthermore, we expect to be ready to make a final decision on defining the project paths by the end of the year or early 2023. We will not stop development activities this year”, said Francisco Gomes Neto, CEO of Embraer.
Embraer's new turboprop aircraft should focus on the 70 to 90 seat market, as previously posted. The propulsion will be with conventional engines, compared to the previous expectation that the plane will be one of the first of its size with hybrid thrust.
However, the new jet aircraft was designed to achieve significant fuel savings compared to competitors, even if the option is for the conventional propulsion that already exists on the market.
Embraer is working to finalize the basic design of two different versions, the TP70 and TP90, according to Francisco Gomes.
“These 50-seat regional jets… are not replaced by new generation aircraft. But the smallest member of Embraer's turboprop family, which we call the TP70, is actually an excellent aircraft configured in three classes with 50 seats.”
According to the company, there is a demand for at least 1080 turboprops worldwide over the next 20 years. ATR has not yet presented a new concept, but said it is already studying a significant update of your family of aircraft.
Rolls-Royce participation in the propulsion
Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace President Chris Cholerton said earlier that his company, which focuses on widebody aircraft engines, was working to come up with a compelling turboprop engine proposal for Embraer.
“I think we would see significant reductions in fuel consumption and therefore we are very positive about the potential of this product”, he told reporters at the Singapore Airshow. “I think we would see significant reductions in fuel consumption and therefore we are very positive about the potential of this product”.
In the projection above, we can see how Embraer bets on a refined design, derived from the 2nd generation E-Jets. The new jet aircraft was designed to achieve significant fuel savings compared to competitors, even if the option is for the conventional propulsion that already exists on the market.
We can also notice, in this photo that was part of a presentation to US airline executives, the engines installed in the tail.
During the presentation of the new project, Luis Carlos Affonso who is Senior Vice President of Engineering said that the new concept of engines installed in the tail will allow a quieter flight, providing a similarity to airplanes with jet engines making the trip more comfortable.
The executive also said that the new engine with “propfan architecture”, or turboprops with “reduction boxes” for example, they will be able to improve the operational efficiency of the aircraft and consequently reducing its operational costs.
In any case, we must consider that since the 80s Embraer has not designed a new turboprop aircraft. The manufacturer ended production of the EMB-120 Brasília in 2004, an aircraft that was also the last one developed with this type of propulsion.
