By Victor Shalton
Congo Airways Orders Two Additional Embraer E195-E2s
Congo Airways has confirmed a firm order placed for two Embraer E195-E2 jet airliners with the stage set for deliveries in early 2022.
The order is accompanied by a mandatory down payment made by the Congolese government while the remaining balance of payments to be made at a later stage and will be co-financed by banks and financial institutions retained by Congo Airways.
This comes just six months after their first E2 order. It will also be an addition to their existing two aircraft order for the smaller E190-E2 with the four-aircraft deal having a total value of $272 million at current list prices. The new order will be included in Embraer’s 2020 fourth-quarter backlog.
“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 success, we will have the flexibility, and the right-sized, most efficient aircraft, to serve our customers as the market returns,” Desire Bantu, CEO of Congo Airways.
Cesar Pereira, Vice President of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Embraer Commercial Aviation commented, “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.”
“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,” added Pereira.
The E195-E2 will be configured in a dual-class 120 seat layout with 12 seats in business class configured in a 2×1 seating arrangements and 108 in economy arranged in 2×2 seating configuration, an additional 25% capacity when compared to the 96-seat configuration chosen by Congo Airways for their E190-E2s.
There are currently 206 Embraer aircraft operating in Africa with 56 airlines in 29 countries.
He is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business administration at DeKUT and aspiring to make a career in a more aviation-related course.
