How A 124-Seat Regional Jet Is Quietly Taking Over 2,000-Mile Leisure Routes On 4 Continents

When discussing small airliners, the Airbus A220 is usually the aircraft that comes to mind because it's a clean-sheet design that is quite innovative. In aviation, however, brand new doesn't always mean better. To compete against the A220, Embraer developed the E2, which is essentially the Embraer E-Jet family but with a new wing, new engines, and technological improvements. Despite the fact that it's based on a pre-existing design, the Embraer E2 has also been an increasingly influential aircraft.

Despite the design having originally been developed as a regional jet, the E2 has become much more than that. Airlines are taking advantage of the plane's long range and low operating costs to launch routes that stretched past the limits of the original E-Jet family and lacked demand to support a larger aircraft type. As the worldwide E2 fleet grows, airlines are deploying the aircraft on more 'long and thin routes', providing customers with new nonstop options and connecting more cities that you'd think wouldn't support nonstop services.

The Embraer E2 In Africa

On October 2, 2026, South African carrier Airlink will be launching services from Cape Town International Airport (CPT) to Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport (MRU) in Mauritius. Airlink will compete against South African Airways (flying an Airbus A320) and Air Mauritius (flying an Airbus A330), so it's going to be a small player in this market. However, this is the benefit of the E2, because it's small and cheap to operate, even on this 2,226 NM (4,122 km) route.

Nigerian airline Air Peace currently holds the record for the world's longest Embraer E2 route, as it formerly operated the E195-E2 between Lagos Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS) and Johannesburg O.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB). The length of the route was impressive, but what really made this an accomplishment for the E2 is that JNB is a challenging airfield to operate out of, with hot temperatures and a high airport elevation. Despite this, the E2 delivered.

Air Peace is not currently operating this route, but this isn't due to issues with the aircraft. Meanwhile, the E195-E2 is allowing Airlink to enter markets like Mauritius, where it's competing against established players that sell a lot of capacity (Air Mauritius with its A330 in particular). Airlink is coming in as the little fish in a big pond, and the E2 offers low operating costs while its small size means that the carrier has a reduced risk of crashing yields.

The Embraer E2 in Asia

The Embraer E2 is being flown by a few operators in Asia, including Scoot and All Nippon Airways. Hunnu Air, however, is arguably the most interesting out of them. It's a Mongolian airline operating out of Ulaanbaatar Chinggis Khan International Airport (UBN) with a fleet of five aircraft, made up of one ATR 42, two Embraer E190s, and two E195-E2s. For the most part, Hunnu Air flies to China, Russia, Japan, Kazakhstan, and within Mongolia, but it also operates some seasonal charter flights to other destinations.

The carrier's seasonal charters to Phu Quoc International Airport (PQC) are among the longest flights operated by the Embraer E2, with the great circle distance between the two coming in at 2,245 NM (4,157 km). This might not seem very long, except that this is about the same distance as US transcontinental routes. Airbus A321s struggled to operate routes of this distance 15 years ago, yet today, it's being reliably flown by a 124-seater airliner that was originally designed as a regional jet.

The E2's size is key to why it works on services like these. An Airbus A320 would be significantly more expensive to charter and would likely be oversized for the mission. Often, this means that the service simply can't operate economically. The E2 brings extremely low block fuel costs, and its small size is closer to what a route like this actually requires. As such, it's enabling routes like this to go from a pipe dream to a reality, connecting small hubs to small spokes one route at a time.

Using The Embraer E2 In Europe

Widerøe was the launch operator for the E2 family, and it's notably one of the few operators of the E190-E2 (most orders are for the larger E195-E2). It focuses on operating short flights within Norway to small communities, and it historically has only operated turboprops. In fact, the majority of Widerøe's fleet consists of turboprops, and it only has three Embraer E190-E2s in a fleet of 50 aircraft. The E2s are used for regional flights like the turboprops, but they're also used to transport Widerøe's customers out of Norway.

Widerøe used to deploy the E190-E2 to Lanzarote Airport (ACE) from Bergen Airport (BGO), which was its longest flight. This route is no longer operating, but, remarkably, a company that is essentially a regional airline was able to launch a five-hour route to the Canaries without needing to step up to a huge airliner like a 737, which can have over 60% additional seats. Instead, it was able to use its small Embraers for the task while still mainly focusing on serving smaller destinations within Scandinavia.

Even today, the E2 is used by Widerøe for international services, such as to France, Germany, and Ireland. With these routes, Widerøe's business model really comes together, because it enables those in smaller communities within Norway to travel to major cities across Europe with a single airline, reducing time and costs. The airline is fundamentally about making travel more accessible to its customer base, and the E2 enables Widerøe to expand the business model even further.

A Strategic Pivot In North America

Like Widerøe, Porter Airlines has traditionally only operated turboprops. The airline's business model involved operating short-haul routes out of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ), which is much closer to downtown Toronto than Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), but does not allow jets. It's a valid business model, but it doesn't allow for much growth. As such, Porter Airlines has ordered 75 Embraer E195-E2s and radically changed its strategy, using these planes to directly take on Air Canada and WestJet to become a national carrier in Canada.

Porter Airlines' current longest route is from Montreal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL) to Vancouver International Airport (YVR), a service that spans 1,994 NM (3,693 km). Porter is facing heavy competition, as Air Canada operates multiple daily flights on this route, while this route also sees service from ultra-low-cost carrier Flair Airlines. It's a difficult market for a new entrant to compete in, but Porter's advantage is the low operating costs and modest size of the Embraer E195-E2.

| Largest Canadian Airlines | Mainline Fleet Size | |---|---| | Air Canada (also owns Air Canada Rouge, Jetz, and Express) | 235 aircraft | | WestJet (also owns WestJet Encore) | 163 aircraft | | Porter Airlines | 83 aircraft |

Porter doesn't need to sell a lot of tickets to make the route profitable. In addition, because Porter isn't selling a ton of capacity on this route, it can maintain yield integrity, which wouldn't be the case if it were operating a larger narrowbody with almost 200 seats. But what's more, because the E2 isn't that expensive to buy and has low operating costs, Porter can operate this route even if it's not profitable for market relevancy, and this would be much harder with a larger, more expensive aircraft.

What The E2 Offers In The Market

Much like the competing Airbus A220, the Embraer E2 is small, economical, and has excellent range. However, the E2 is generally cheaper to purchase and has a shorter production backlog, which means airlines can get the plane sooner than the A220. What's more, the E2 has commonality with the last-generation E-Jet family, whereas the A220 essentially doesn't have commonality with any other aircraft type. The A220 is outselling the E2, but the full story is more complicated than this.

About 90% of the over 1,100 orders received are for the A220-300 model, which competes with the Airbus A319neo and Boeing 737 MAX 7 rather than the E2. The A220-100 competes directly against the E195-E2, but it's received just over 100 orders, compared to 464 orders for the E195-E2. Meanwhile, the E190-E2 is smaller than any A220 variant, and it's received just 68 orders. The two are competitive, but they're often used for different purposes despite often being grouped together.

| Aircraft | Aircraft Variant | Sales | | |---|---|---|---| | Airbus A220 | 1,106 orders | || | Airbus A220-100 | 108 orders | || | Airbus A220-300 | 998 orders | || | Embraer E2 | 532 orders | || | Embraer E190-E2 | 68 orders | || | Embraer E195-E2 | 464 orders |

The A220 is often used as a small mainline jet, sometimes operating longer routes, but it's also used on shorter routes connecting major business hubs. You see the E2 also being used in this way, but a large proportion of the E2's customers are smaller carriers that are using the plane to expand their network in new ways. However, both aircraft ultimately compete in a smaller market than the larger narrowbodies, which have better per-seat costs and are closer in size to what most airlines require. The E2 and A220 are more of a niche product than the A320 and 737.