Brazilian Aircraft maker Embraer delivered a 50-seat ERJ 145 to HNA Group Co on Friday, as it tries to carve a niche in China's growing regional aviation market.

 

Harbin Embraer Aircraft Industry Co Ltd (HEAI), a joint venture of Embraer and China Aviation Industry Corporation II, delivered the plane to Grand China Express, a subsidiary of HNA Group, China's fourth-largest airline. The plane is the first of Embraer's $2.7 billion deal to supply 100 planes to HNA Group.

 

"China is expected to have more than 650 regional airplanes in 20 years, up from 126 now," said Frederico Fleury Curado, president and chief executive officer of Embraer. "We expect to get more than 50 percent of the new orders."

 

Embraer set up the joint venture HEAI in 2003, which now manufactures the 50-seat ERJ 145 in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Embraer has delivered more than 100 regional planes of less than 120 seats to Chinese carriers.

 

HNA Group, backed by US billionaire George Soros, agreed to buy 50 ERJ 145s and 50 106-seat Embraer 190s from the Brazilian company last September. The planes will be delivered by 2012.

 

China needs to speed up the development of its regional aviation market, said Chen Feng, chairman of HNA Group. Presently, regional planes account for only 7 percent of China's total fleet, compared with about 30 percent in some developed countries, according to Chen.

 

HNA Group and its affiliated Hainan Airlines Co Ltd jointly established Grand China Express this March.

 

(China Daily September 29, 2007)