Finnair Exercises Options for four Embraer 190s

Released on Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Embraer announces that Finnair has confirmed its four remaining options of the initial order placed in July 2004. The airline has opted for four additional EMBRAER 190 jets, thus reaffirming its confidence in this model. The total value of the deal, at list price, comes to US$ 135 million.

Finnair initially placed an order for 12 EMBRAER 170 jets, plus eight options convertible to other models of the E-Jets family. Today's announcement marks the confirmation of all of Finnair's options. When completed, the Finnair E-Jets fleet will consist of ten EMBRAER 170 and ten EMBRAER 190 jets.

"We see this decision by Finnair as a significant endorsement of our E-Jets family," said Frederico Fleury Curado, Embraer Executive Vice-President, Airline Market. "Finnair's choice is of special importance to us, as they are a world-class airline offering a high level of customer service and are operating their EMBRAER 170 and EMBRAER 190 jets in a challenging weather environment."

Finnair's EMBRAER 190 E-Jets are configured to accommodate up to 100 passengers. The airline should receive its first EMBRAER 190 in December 2006. This aircraft comes from the conversion of two firm EMBRAER 170 jet orders into EMBRAER 190 jets, as announced in December 2005. At that time, simultaneously, the Finnish company also announced that it converted four options into EMBRAER 190 jets firm orders. "This order will complete our European fleet. The EMBRAER jets have brought flexibility to our capacity management. With the help of the Embraer aircraft we have been able to launch new destinations and increase frequencies in our European network, which provides smooth connections to our Asian routes," says Finnair President and CEO Jukka Hienonen. "The cockpits of the EMBRAER 170 and the EMBRAER 190 jets are completely compatible with each other and the same crews can operate both aircraft models."