Brazil’s Embraer eyes deal with Chinese airline for 20 E-jets -sources

By Gabriel Araujo

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA aims to sign a deal for the sale of 20 commercial jets to a Chinese airline during President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s visit to China this week, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The deal would mark a breakthrough for Embraer in China, where it has struggled to find new business since the 2016 closure of a joint venture at a factory in Harbin.

That venture with Chinese group Avic, launched in 2003 during Lula’s first presidential term, produced a previous generation of regional jets and Legacy 650 executive jets.

Embraer has delivered 110 commercial aircraft to Chinese airlines, including 70 to Hainan Airlines and 20 to China Southern, according to securities filings. The planemaker has not received a new order from a Chinese airline since leaving Harbin in 2016.

ICBC Financial Leasing, a subsidiary of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, had received five of 10 next-generation E-195-E2 on order at the end of last year, according to an Embraer filing.

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Brad Haynes)