PARIS, France---During this year's edition of the European Regional Airline Association (ERA) meeting, held in Paris, France, Embraer announced the names of the main risk sharing partners that will participate in the ERJ-170 and ERJ-190 programs. After issuing requests for proposals to 85 leading worldwide aerospace manufacturers, 58 candidates tendered their proposals during the first quarter of 1999. Besides General Electric and Honeywell, which have been previously selected and announced, Embraer finally selected the risk sharing partners that will take part in the development and production of the ERJ-170 and ERJ-190 aircraft. After a six month evaluation period in which each proposal was carefully examined under a wide variety of parameters, the prime risk sharing partners are: C & D Interiors (United States), Gamesa (Spain), Hamilton Sundstrand (United States), Kawasaki (Japan), Latecoere (France), Liebherr (Germany), Parker Hannifin (United States) and Sonaca (Belgium). Besides having total responsibility and leadership for the design, Embraer will also design, develop and produce the forward fuselage, center II fuselage, radome, wing/fuselage fairing and wing assembly. Already risk sharing partners in the ERJ-135 and ERJ-145 programs, C & D Interiors will design, develop and manufacture the aircraft interior, Sonaca is responsible for the ERJ-170/190's wing slats and Gamesa is in charge of the rear fuselage and the vertical and horizontal tail surfaces. Hamilton Sundstrand was selected and tasked with the development and production of the aircraft's tail cone, auxiliary power unit (APU), electrical systems and the air management system. A newcomer to Embraer's aircraft programs, Kawasaki has been entrusted with the aircraft wing stub, engine pylon, fixed leading and trailing edge assemblies, flaps, spoilers and the wing's flight control surfaces and Latecoere will be responsible for the manufacturing of the center I and center III fuselage sections. In association with EDE - Embraer Divisão Equipamentos, Liebherr will be responsible for designing, developing and manufacturing the new regional jetliner's landing gear assemblies. Parker Hannifin was selected by Embraer to develop and manufacture the ERJ-170/190's hydraulic, flight control and fuel systems. During the 1999 edition of the Paris Air Show, Embraer had already announced two risk sharing partners. After a lengthy evaluation and assessment period during which three turbofan engine families were examined, Embraer selected the General Electric's CF34-8E/10E turbofans as the ERJ-170/190's powerplants. General Electric will not only furnish the aircraft's engines, but will also be in charge of designing, developing and manufacturing the engine nacelles. Honeywell was selected as the winning contender with its Primus Epic. Renowned for its pace setting avionics equipment, Honeywell's selection consolidates its association with Embraer which began with the highly successful Primus 1000 avionics in the ERJ-145/ERJ-135 family. Featuring spacious passenger cabins with 32-in. seat pitch, 3-in. elbow room, 19-in. aisle width and 6.7-ft. cabin height, the ERJ-170/190 jetliners will have a four-abreast seating that eliminates undesirable middle seats, facilitates access to both seats and overhead bins, and makes boarding easier and faster. The ERJ-190 is being offered in 98 and 108 passengers versions. However, to accommodate the larger passenger payload, the two versions of the ERJ-190 will differ structurally from the ERJ-170 in that they will have a stretched fuselage, longer wingspan, higher-rated engines and strengthened landing gear. All three jetliners will achieve a maximum cruise speed of Mach 0.8 (470 KTAS), range varying from 1,500 NM to 2,300 NM according to the version.
