Brazilian planemaker Embraer (ERJ +0.06%) is in line to sign as many as 100 new airplane sales to AIG (AIG 0.15%) airplane leasing subsidiary International Lease Finance Corporation, or IFLC.
Yesterday, Embraer announced that it has signed a letter of intent with ILFC, describing plans by the latter to purchase 25 of Embraer's second-generation E190-E2 aircraft, and 25 more second-gen E195-E2s. According to the terms of the LOI, ILFC is also taking out options to purchase a further 25 E190-E2 and 25 E195-E2 -- potentially doubling the size of the base order.
ILFC has also now officially become "the launch customer" -- i.e., the first customer to buy the plane -- among aircraft leasing companies. In a statement, its CEO, Henri Courpron, was quoted saying, "We are pleased to be a lessor launch customer for the new E-Jets E2 and look forward to growing our relationship with Embraer."
The new family of E2 Embraers includes three models available for sale, the E190-E2 and E195-E2 that ILFC is buying, and also a smaller jet dubbed the E175-E2. Pricing on the new planes does not yet appear to be public, but pricing of the previous generation of E-Jets was roughly $32 million for the first-gen E190, and $40 million for the E-195, suggesting that this deal could ultimately be worth as much as $7.2 billion to Embraer.
Deliveries are slated to begin in H1 2018.
