In Conversation: Arjan Meijer & Rodrigo Silva e Souza, Embraer

April 6, 2023

In this week’s episode of our ‘Sustainability in the Air’ podcast, Embraer Commercial Aviation’s President & CEO Arjan Meijer, and Vice President of Marketing and Strategy Rodrigo Silva e Souza speak with SimpliFlying CEO Shashank Nigam and share how the aircraft manufacturer is on a mission to decarbonise regional aviation through a mix of innovative technologies.

You can listen and subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict and Google podcasts. Or, read the full deep dive on our sustainability hub here.

Embraer’s ambitious roadmap for decarbonising regional aviation

Here’s a preview of the episode below. You can also read a deep dive to learn how Embraer aims to transform regional and urban air mobility through the Energia project and Eve Air Mobility’s eVTOLs; why planes cannot entirely be replaced by trains; and how Embraer built the world’s quietest narrowbody aircraft.

The Energia project

In 2021, Embraer unveiled the Energia project with four aircraft concepts, based on four different sustainable propulsion technologies: hydrogen fuel cell, electric, dual fuel gas turbine and hybrid-electric. The designs were targeted at the up to 50 seats segment, with smaller aircraft being powered through electric or hybrid electric motors, and the larger concepts capable of flying on hydrogen fuel cells.

Last year, however, the manufacturer streamlined its focus on two 19-30 seater designs for hybrid-electric and hydrogen-electric propulsion. “The sweet spot, if we look at the market, is probably between 20-30 seats, or maybe a little bit higher”, says Meijer. This ruled out the possibility of the proposed fully-electric design due to the high power-to-weight ratio of batteries. The dual-fuel gas turbine concept has also been put on hold. Embraer’s hybrid-electric and hydrogen-electric variants are expected to enter service in early 2030s and 2035, respectively.

Meijer emphasises that getting to net zero will require an array of solutions. He believes that sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) are the only drop-in solution that can create a dent in aviation’s emissions. While Hydrogen also has significant potential, attaining viable production levels of green hydrogen by 2050 might not be possible. “There’s a lot of work to be done, both on the technology and on the supply chain”, he says. The biggest and swiftest cut in emissions in the short term, Meijer explains, can only be brought about by fleet renewal.

Our Take

Considering the impact greener aircraft can have in lowering emissions, aircraft manufacturers shoulder the lion’s share of the responsibility to decarbonise aviation. In this season of our podcast, we have featured two of the largest aircraft manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus. Both build larger planes for longer ranges that carry many more passengers. Embraer, however, specialises in regional, short-haul aviation.

As aviation continues to come under fire from climate activists, trains are often seen as the best alternative. However, Meijer explains that the full replacement by train scenario can realistically only work for a limited number of city pairs. For most others, train travel could involve multiple connections at a possibly higher cost of travel than planes. This is not to say that resorting to train travel is futile. Trains and planes, in fact, can complement each other – as long as aircraft emissions can be at par with that of trains.

Ultimately, the goal of the travel industry is to offer seamless connectivity. Regional aviation can be an excellent means to that end if it can be made quieter, and about as clean as trains in terms of CO2 emissions.

Meijer believes that achieving that goal would also push governments to promote regional aviation. After all, as Meijer memorably says during the podcast: “We like to call our business aviation. But the real product we’re supplying is connectivity.”

Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Google podcasts or on our sustainability hub here. Season 3 is brought to you by our sustainability partners, Cirium and CarbonClick.