Embraer, the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, has made Florida the center of its operations in North America.
Founded in Brazil in 1969
as a government-owned company and privatized in 1994, Embraer designs,
manufactures and sells a range of aircraft for commercial airlines and
defense, plus executive jets.
The company, whose name
in Portuguese is Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica S.A. (Brazilian
Aeronautics Company) is the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial
jets of up to 130 seats, has over 19,000 employees and logged net
revenues of $13.6 billion in 2013.
Embraer’s midsize jets are used by regional airlines all over the world.
“Embraer opened its first
U.S. sales office in Dania Beach in 1979,” said Gary Spulak, president
of Embraer Aircraft Holding Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, the Embraer
subsidiary in charge of sales and marketing for commercial aircraft in
the U.S. and Canada. “And the company opened its Fort Lauderdale
facility in 1981,” said Spulak, who began working for Embraer in 1983.
The Fort Lauderdale
complex, built alongside the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
Airport, incudes the headquarters offices, marketing staff for
commercial aircraft, a maintenance center for executive jets and a
warehouse with spare parts and equipment for Embraer’s commercial and
executive jets.
The Fort Lauderdale
facilities are only one part of Embraer’s large presence in Florida,
built to support Embraer’s sales and service initiatives in the key U.S.
market.
“The North American
market accounts for more than 50 percent of deliveries of all Embraer
commercial and executive jets,” said Spulak, who was born in Brooklyn,
moved to Florida with his family and attended high school in Hollywood.
“And in the U.S., we have over 1,000 Embraer aircraft flying,” he added.
To gain a stonger
foothold in the North American market and provide more service for its
planes, Embraer has invested in production and maintenance facilities in
Florida and three other states.
Since 2011, Embraer has
been building its Phenom executive jets in Melbourne, and recently
opened a $24 million engineering and technology center there.
The company is also investing an estimated $48 million in a new Melbourne plant that will make Embraer Legacy business jets.
The Melbourne plants are
Embraer’s only production facilities outside Brazil, and more than 60
percent of components used in the planes made in Melbourne come from
U.S. suppliers.
In Jacksonville, Embraer
is building A-29 Super Tucano turboprop aircraft for the U.S. Air Force.
This plane is designed for light attack, close air support,
reconnaissance and pilot training,
Embraer also has service and maintenance centers in Arizona, Connecticut and Tennessee.
The company has about
1,500 employees across the U.S. Of these, 727 are in Florida and about
280 in Fort Lauderdale. The new expanions in Melbourne are expected to
add hundreds of new jobs.
To date, Embraer has invested around $1 billion in its U.S. operations.
Building its
manufacturing and engineering facilities along Florida’s Space Coast has
been an advantage for Embraer, Spulak said. “We are able to hire
engineers and other specialized personnel who used to work for NASA.”
Embraer was able to carve
out a share of the U.S. commercial airline market by successfully
offering a line of commuter planes here after the federal government
deregulated the airline industry in 1979, said Spulak, who earned a
bachelor’s degree in business administration at the University of Miami
and an MBA from Barry University.
As a result of
deregulation, many large airlines dropped commuter or regional routes
that carried fewer passengers and were less profitable. Regional
airlines – some of which today are offshoots of the majors – filled the
gap, but needed midsize planes to cover their routes.
Embraer was able to
compete successfully with Canada’s Bombardier, which makes passenger
jets in the same size category, and today has planes flying with
American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air LinesAir Canada,
JetBlueBritish Airways and many others.
As a sign of Embraer’s
success, Spulak said the company recently achieved the highest order
backlog in its history: $22.1 billion. Most of this is due to orders for
its commercial series of Embraer E170 to E195 jets. The E170s are in
the 80-seat range, while the E195s can accommodate up to 124 passenger
seats, depending on the configuration.
Embraer also sells a line
of executive jets, called Phenom, that have been popular among
companies for executive travel and wealthy individuals. It also sells a
larger series of luxurious business jets called Legacy. The lowest price
Embraer executive jet sells new for around $5 million.
One clear sign of
Embraer’s strength in the U.S. market was an announcement in September
by Republic Airways Holdings Inc., which agreed to buy 50 new Embraer
E175, 76-seat commercial jets in a deal worth an estimated $2.1 billion.
Indiana-based Republic
owns Chautauqua Airlines, Republic Airlines and Shuttle America, has a
fleet of nearly 250 aircraft and operates about 1,300 flights daily to
some 110 destinations in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean.
Republic operates these
flights for major airline partners such as American Eagle, Delta
Connection, United Express and US Airways Express.
The new Embraer planes,
which will be delivered starting in 2015, will be operated for United
Airlines under the United Express brand.
Republic, which is a long-standing customer of Embraer, has options to buy even more of the Brazilian company’s planes.
“United was our first
E-jet [Embraer E-Jets] customer, and we are excited for the opportunity
to further develop our relationship with 50 new E175s,” said Bryan
Bedford, president, chairman and CEO of Republic. “We look forward to
continuing to provide United with safe, [environmentally] clean and
reliable air service.”
Embraer
Business: Brazil-based
Embraer is a major designer and manufacturer of commercial aircraft,
executive jets and military planes with offices, production and
maintenance centers in the Americas, Europe and Asia. The company, whose
full name is Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica S.A., is the largest
manufacturer of commercial jets up to 130 seats. Embraer has its North
American headquarters and a maintenance center in Fort Lauderdale,
assembly plants in Melbourne and Jacksonville and recently set up a new
engineering and technology center in Melbourne. It also has maintenance
centers in Arizona, Connecticut and Tennessee. The U.S. is a key market
for Embraer, where it currently has more than 1,000 aircraft flying.
World headquarters: Sao José dos Campos, Brazil
North American
headquarters: Fort Lauderdale (276 SW 34th executive offices, plus North
American marketing for commercial aircraft, a maintenance center for
executive jets and a warehouse with spare parts for commercial and
executive jets.
President: Gary Spulak heads Embraer’s North America subsidiary, Embraer Aircraft Holding, Inc.
Founded: Embraer was
founded in Brazil in 1969. Its first U.S. sales office was opened in
Dania Beach in 1979 and the Fort Lauderdale center was set up in 1981.
Employees: Embraer has
about 280 in Fort Lauderdale, 727 in Florida, 1,500 in the U.S. and over
19,000 worldwide, mostly in Brazil.
Ownership: publicly traded
Revenues: Net revenues
for the entire company were $13.6 billion in 2013. Embraer has invested
about $1 billion in its U.S. operations to date. It had a record high
backlog of orders at the end of third quarter 2014, totaling $22.1
billion.
Commercial jet customers: American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Air Canada, JetBlue, British Airways plus others.
Website: www.embraer.com
Source: Embraer
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