Embraer is a well-known name in the regional jet market, with thousands of aircraft sold to
carriers globally. However, Airbus - through its acquisition of the Bombardier CSeries - has shaken
up the industry with the A220, which is considered one of the best regional jets in the market.
Today, we take a look at the latest offerings side-by-side to determine which plane is best.
As we’ve already discussed numerous times in previous videos, the Airbus A220 is not
a clean-sheet Airbus design, but rather a rebrand of Bombardier's struggling CSeries
project. After the European giant bought the program, it quickly ramped up A220
production and attracted airlines with the plane's capacity and versatility.
However, it was not always easy for the CSeries,
which promised to be a game-changing aircraft for airlines. The CSeries program received much
scrutiny from Boeing early on, leading to the filing for an anti-competitive
injunction over the subsidies to the planemaker by the Quebec government.
With huge duties, the cost of selling the CSeries in the US would make it unfeasible, leading to
Bombardier selling half of the project to Airbus, by which time the injunction has been overturned.
The origin story of the E195-E2 is nowhere near as dramatic as the A220-300s!
The E2 program was launched at the Paris Air Show in June 2013. As noted by AerospaceTechnology.com,
the wings of the E2 have a high-aspect ratio and feature an advanced aerodynamic design.
A core update to the E-jets was newer and more efficient engines as well.
Indeed, the new generation aircraft, an update to the E-series of regional aircraft - were
designed to reduce fuel consumption, emissions, noise and maintenance costs.
The first E195-E2 was delivered to Brazilian carrier Azul in October 2019. Notably, this is
almost 3 years AFTER the A220-300 entered service with airBaltic, in December 2016.
After Airbus’ acquisition of the CSeries program, Boeing pursued a merger with Embraer with the
hopes of creating its own fleet of regional jet offerings. The deal was scrapped in 2020 at the
height of the COVID-19 crisis. This left the pair of planemakers to compete in the market
alone once more. Embraer has pushed on with its E2 program, the next generation of regional flying.
So what are the key differences between the aircraft?
Well, today, we'll take a look at the largest variants of the A220 and E2 families on offer,
the A220-300, and E195-E2. On paper, these are the key differences.
The A220-300 can be configured to a maximum of
160 seats while the E195-E2 has a maximum of 146 seats.
Interestingly, however, the A220-300 is shorter,
at 38.7m (127 feet), while its Embraer rival has a length of 41.51 m (136.2 ft).
The fact that the slightly shorter A220-300 can carry as many as 14 more passengers is
rather peculiar. Do you know what explains this difference? Well, if you haven’t figured it out
yet, it’s because the A220 is a wider aircraft, capable of a 2-3 configuration in economy class.
On the other hand, the E195-E2 has a narrower cabin and can only be set up in a 2-2 layout.
This difference in capacity tells us that the A220-100 might be a more
closely matched rival to the E195-E2, but this is something we’ll discuss later in the video!
When it comes to range, the A220-300 has a stated maximum range of 6,297km (3,400 nm). The
E195-E2 can fly as far as 4,815km - or 2,600nm.
The difference in range between the two jets is quite notable! However,
if we look at their fuel capacities, it all makes sense. The A220-300 can
carry 21,508kg of fuel, while it’s just 13,690kg for the Embraer.
Speaking of weight, the maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of the A220 is 70.9 tonnes.
For the E195-E2, that number is 61.5 tonnes, making it a significantly lighter aircraft!
Before we move on to the next category, we should discuss passenger experience.
As we always note - the passenger experience will be greatly impacted by airline choices,
including the type of seat and seat spacing. But, by all reports, the A220 is actually
configured with plenty of generous legroom, great cabin humidity, and plenty of modern comforts.
However, the E195 does have one big upside, a 2-2 configuration as we mentioned previously.
This is much preferable to a 2-3 layout on the A220, which risks you being stuck
in a middle seat on flights as long as six or seven hours (if you're flying with airBaltic).
The window seat of the A220 is fairly large at 11 by 16 inches. Unfortunately,
we don’t have figures for the E195-E2’s windows to compare. According to Embraer, however,
the windows have been quote “redesigned…to make the cabin feel larger and brighter.”
Moving on, did you know that both aircraft types use the same engine? Specifically,
they both use the Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1500G geared turbofan engines.
Thus, how they burn fuel and power their aircraft really comes down to construction and engineering.
On this topic, we can assume that both types will have the same types of issues - whether
these issues are technical, or due to supply chain disruptions.
Indeed, supply chain issues are plaguing Pratt & Whitney these days,
with airBaltic’s CEO, telling Simple Flying that an engine replacement that
previously would have taken around 90 days can now take as long as 8 months!
When it comes to sales and orders, 692 A220-300s have thus far been ordered, as of February 2023.
The E195-E2, however, has only racked up firm orders for a total of 201 airframes.
Breeze Airways and JetBlue are among the largest A220-300 customers, having ordered 80 and 100,
respectively. As for the E195-E2, Azul is one of the largest customers with 51 ordered.
Dutch carrier KLM and its cityHopper subsidiary has committed to a firm 25 with options for
another 10, while Canada’s Porter Airlines, a newer customer of the type, has committed to 30.
So is one aircraft actually better than the other?
If we look at the capacities and ranges of these two jets,
we can see that they are in fairly different classes. The E195-E2
will inevitably perform better on shorter routes with lower demand.
The E195-E2 is obviously better suited to serving smaller airports. Indeed,
according to official figures, the aircraft’s take Off Field Length with a full cabin is
stated to be 1,305 m / 4,281 ft. Its Landing Field Length is noted to be 1,290 m / 4,232 ft.
While Airbus doesn’t publish these same figures on its website,
airlines-inform.com states that the A220-300’s Takeoff field length is about
1,900 meters (6233 feet) while its landing field length is 1350 meters (4430 feet).
Looking at all of this data, it’s clear that each aircraft in today’s comparison
will be used differently and are actually not in direct competition with one another.
Indeed, this tells us that the Airbus A220-100 is a much closer competitor to the E195-E2 than
its larger sibling. That will just have to be another comparison video for another day!
On that note, however, fleet commonality and the
flexibility to operate smaller or larger variants be a key factor for airlines.
Indeed, the E195-E2 is the largest variant of the E2 series. Smaller E2
variants include the E175 and the E190. Thus, if you’re an airline wanting more
flexibility for regional operations and small airports with shorter runways,
then it would seem like Embraer and its E2 family offer the advantage.
On the other hand, if you want to fly further and potentially fly more passengers,
then the A220 family might be the better option.
But what about you? Which aircraft do you prefer? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment!