By Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “Boeing Brasil – Commercial” is the brand name of the new company resulting from the purchase of Embraer’s commercial aviation division by the U.S. aerospace giant.
The choice was prudent. Executives of the new company remain doubtful as to the impact of the market takeover and, particularly, the fear of injuring Brazilian political sensitivity. Hence Brazil with an “s,” although followed by “commercial” in English.
Embraer was founded by the military in 1969 and was state-owned up to 1994; it is the largest national exporter of products of high added value. It is viewed as the jewel of the industrial crown in a country where trade balance is anchored to commodities.
The most crucial decision will thus require a few months: the naming of the E-Jets E2 series, a continuation of Embraer’s successful family of regional jets that first attracted Boeing to the business.
As company executives put it, there should be surprises here. On the one hand, E2 already enjoys a firmly established reputation in its niche, led by Embraer in recent years.
On the other hand, the Boeing brand should be evidenced. When the American company bought its rival McDonnell-Douglas in 1997, it renamed only one of the models, the MD-95 – which became the Boeing-717, its only regional jet with a short career.
Boeing’s largest competitor, Airbus, renamed the Canadian Bombardier’s C-Series aircraft like A220, bought in 2017. This deal led to the creation of a regional jet, the first in the European product portfolio, triggering negotiations between the Americans and Embraer, the company’s biggest rival in Canada.
In line with Airbus, Boeing only worked with larger jets – the standard regional airliner carries 70-130 passengers.
The gain in commercial scale achieved by its business rival with the Europeans was decisive for Embraer in its decision to associate with the Americans.
The Americans will not be able to use the name Embraer, so as not to be confused with the Brazilian company remaining from the agreement, which will handle defense and security products, in addition to executive aviation.