Congo Airways: Orders more Embraer E195-52 Jets six months after their first E2 order

By Abdul Rahman Bangura–

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone- Half a year after their first E2 order, Congo Airways has put in a firm commitment for two E195-E2 jets, Embraer has published. This is in expansion to their present two aircraft order for the smaller E190-E2.

The four airliner transaction has a total value of $272 million at established list prices. This current firm order will be encompassed in Embraer’s 2020 fourth-quarter backlog. Chief Executive Officer, Desire Bantu of Congo Airways announced, “We see an opportunity in our market and the crisis we are all facing for Congo Airways to emerge stronger – which is why we are not waiting to place this further order. These new jets will allow us to extend our passenger and cargo operations regionally to high demand destinations such as Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Abidjan. As we prepare for future successes, we will have the flexibility, and the right sized, most efficient aircraft, to serve our customers as the market returns.”

“Africa has for too long been thought of as a market of mostly low frequencies and long thin routes. As airlines start to ramp up their operations, the E2 family of aircraft is perfectly positioned to right size routes previously operated by narrow bodies, while keeping frequencies and adjusting capacity to new levels,” told Cesar Pereira – vice President of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Embraer Commercial Aviation. “Congo Airways will benefit from the flexibility provided by the common cockpit on the E2 jet family meaning, their flight crews can transition seamlessly between variants.”

The E195-E2 will be configured in a dual-class 120 seat layout, twelve in business, 108 in the economy. An additional 25% capability when correlated to the 96-seat format selected by Congo Airways for their E190-E2s. The E2 heroics are anticipated to embark in 2022 with Embraer and Congo Airways proceeding to evaluate the aptitude to expect the onset of the liberations. There are currently 206 Embraer aircraft operating in Africa with 56 airlines in 29 countries.

For New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports,  Africa Correspondent

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