Embraer was in Zagreb yesterday to pitch the E2 aircraft to Croatia Airlines and other airlines in the country. Embraer’s visit to Croatia comes just four weeks after Airbus came to Zagreb to pitch the A220 to Croatia Airlines.
Embraer pitches the E2 in Croatia
Embraer visited Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, on Wednesday and Thursday this week. The purpose of the visit was to showcase the E2 aircraft.
The primary audience for Embraer’s event was Croatia Airlines, the flag carrier of Croatia that is looking to start replacing its entire fleet within the next four years. The airline’s CEO, Jasmin Bajić, was at the event in person.
However, the event was also attended by other regional airlines. For example, the startup flag carrier of Montenegro, Air Montenegro, was also there, as was another Croatian airline called Trade Air. Air Montenegro already operates a fleet of only Embraer aircraft.
On the first day of this two-day event, Embraer held a static display for the technical teams of the airlines in attendance.
On the second day, on Thursday, there was a demo flight for the airline executives and for the media. The demo flight was done by a brand new Helvetic Airways E195-E2.
The E2 is a great fit for Croatia Airlines
The E2’s range and capacity, but also the list price, make this aircraft type a good fit for Croatia Airlines.
The E195-E2, for example, can be configured in a two-class configuration of 120 seats: 12 staggered business class seats with a 52-inch seat pitch and 108 economy class seats with a 31-inch seat pitch.
The Airbus A220, in contrast, is larger. Croatia Airlines does not see enough demand on its regional routes to match the capacity of the A220. This is especially true outside of the peak summer months.
Routes like Zagreb-Zadar, Zagreb-Brač, Pula-Zagreb, Split-Lyon, Osijek-Split, Munich-Osijek, Dubrovnik-Osijek, Dubrovnik-Zurich, and Rijeka-Munich almost never sell out at the moment, and they are currently operated by Dash 8 aircraft. Croatia Airlines’ Dash 8-400 is much smaller than its Airbus A220 would be.
With a range of 2,600 miles (4,815 km), the E195-E2 can fly to the entire current route network of Croatia Airlines, but it also allows for new route launches to destinations that Croatia Airlines does not serve because the Airbus A320 family fleet provides too much capacity and the Dash 8 fleet provides insufficient range.
Out of Zagreb, the E195 can get as far as Reykjavík, Kuwait City, Tel Aviv, and Helsinki. It can also reach cities that Croatia Airlines used to fly to, like Lisbon, Moscow, and Madrid, but which were not profitable to serve with the A320 family fleet.
Even the smallest 90-seat Embraer E175-E2 aircraft can operate Croatia Airlines’ existing routes like Zagreb-Dublin and the historical ones like Zagreb-Lisbon and Zagreb-Tel Aviv. With an aircraft like the E2, Croatia Airlines could regain some of the market share that it lost over the last decade.
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