EMB 110 Bandeirante - Exports
In 1975, Embraer exported the first Bandeirante airplanes: two of them were sold to the Uruguayan Air Force. Two years later, export of the Bandeirante for commercial airlines began—the first foreign airline to operate a Bandeirante was the French company Air Littoral. Before being delivered, the aircraft was exhibited, along with a Xingu prototype, at the most important event in global aviation, the Paris Air Show in France, in which Embraer participated for the first time.
On May 26, 1977, airplanes manufactured nationally crossed the Atlantic for the first time when the Bandeirante EMB 110P2, flying the colors of Air Littoral, along with the Xingu prototype, took off from São José dos Campos to Paris. The airplanes made a technical refueling stopover in Fernando de Noronha, and the following day took off for Dakar, then flew on to Seville, and finally headed to Paris. The Bandeirante, piloted by commanders Gualda and Martins da Rosa, completed the trip in exactly seven hours and four minutes. On June 12, 1977, the aircraft went on a presentation tour in Europe. On August 30, the airplanes returned to France, and the Bandeirante was officially delivered to Air Littoral.
In order to increase the exportation of the Bandeirante, Embraer started to seek certification from international organizations. On December 21, 1977, the Bandeirante received certification from France’sDGAC(General Management of Civil Aviation). On August 15, 1978, the Bandeirante received certification issued by the UK’s CAA (Civil Aviation Authority).
After winning official approval from several countries, the company sought official approval from the United States FAA (Federal Aviation Administration); nonetheless, until the end of the 1970s, the use of small aircraft on regional routes was not allowed in the United States. After several agreements, in May 1978 the FAA lowered the requirements for the operation of smaller aircraft. With that, Embraer just needed to find a buyer in order to start the process of official approval, which occurred on June 21, 1978, when Robert Terry, president of Aero Industries, closed a deal for the purchase of three Bandeirantes, which would be used by Aero Commuter, a subsidiary of the company. Thus, on August 18, 1978, three days after the official approval in England, the Bandeirante EMB-110P1 was officially approved by the FAA in the United States.
From that moment on, the Bandeirante started to be exported to various countries. The Bandeirante’s great sales success abroad was one of the factors that led Embraer to set up a subsidiary in United States, Embraer Aircraft Corporation (EAC), in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1979. In addition to supplying spare parts, the EAC was meant to broaden Embraer’s North American market share and provide technical assistance and training to the pilots of several commuter companies flying between small cities.
Later on, a study with the airline companies demonstrated the need to implement improvements in the aircraft, such as internal space enlargement, cabin noise reduction, higher turbine power and more modern avionics as well as installation of a crew door. These alterations led to the P1 18-passenger models and the P2 for passengers and cargo (with a wide door), which were soon granted official approval by the United States FAA; other countries’ aviation authorities quickly followed suit. Soon, the Bandeirante was operating in the most varied conditions, facing temperatures ranging from -30°C to +40°C (-22ºF to +104ºF).
The Bandeirante’s production line was shut down at the end of 1991. The last aircraft to be ordered, SN 498, was delivered to the Amazon Government in 1995. All told, 498 airplanes were manufactured, 253 of them for Brazil and 245 for operators abroad. Over 300 of these aircraft were still flying two decades later.
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