In many ways, Embraer is facing precisely the same dynamic as Airbus and Boeing. Boeing has made its position clear, opting to wait until a significant configuration or propulsion advance is available. Same for Airbus, which having solidified its single-aisle market position, has no plans for a clean sheet design until the 2030s. Both are in the middle of a combination of internally and government-supported research into the technologies that would be required for such an effort and ramping up production of existing aircraft as quickly as possible. Undertaking a clean sheet turboprop design today, with aging current generation propulsion, risked being leapfrogged by ATR, which has already announced its intent – however squishy – to undertake a hybrid electric design by decade’s end. That effort is short on specifics, but nevertheless threatened the business case for the TPNG, which would have relied on asking turboprop customers already flying ATRs to change horses — at a premium price.

Embraer has to design an airplane today for the propulsion of tomorrow

For the first time in aviation history, Embraer is scratching at an entirely new strategic consideration for a multi-decade aircraft program.

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Jon Ostrower
Jon Ostrower is Editor-in-chief of The Air Current, where he leads coverage of the global aerospace and aviation industries. Prior to launching TAC in June 2018, Mr. Ostrower served as Aviation Editor for CNN Worldwide, guiding the network’s global coverage of the business and operations of aviation. Mr. Ostrower joined CNN in 2016 following four and a half years at the Wall Street Journal. Based first in Chicago and then in Washington, D.C., he covered Boeing, aviation safety, and the business of global aerospace. Before that, Mr. Ostrower was editor of FlightBlogger for Flightglobal and Flight International Magazine covering the development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and other new aircraft programs from 2007 to 2012. He is also an instructor at the University of Southern California in the Viterbi School of Engineering's Aviation Safety and Security program. Mr. Ostrower, a Boston native, graduated from The George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs with a bachelor’s degree in Political Communication. He is based in Seattle.
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