On January 13, 2021, African carrier Congo Airways ordered a pair of new Embraer E195-E2 jets. The new E195-E2s will join two previously ordered E190-E2s.
Embraer plans to deliver the pair ofE195-E2 aircraft in 2022. The manufacturer and Congo Airways will continue to review the potential to anticipate the beginning of the deliveries.
“We see an opportunity in our market and the crisis we are all facing for Congo Airways to emerge stronger,” stated Congo Airways CEO, Desire Balazire Bantu, adding that the E2s are intended to be deployed to high-demand destinations across Africa.
The two-class Embraer E195-E2s will have a layout of 120 seats, with 12 business and 108 economy class seats. This configuration has 25% more capacity than the 96-seat E190-E2s with 12 Business and 84 Economy class seats.
Currently, Congo Airways owns four aircraft: two Airbus A320s and two De Havilland Canada Dash 8 Q-400s. The airline, established in 2015, previously had an order for four (two firm, two options) Embraer E175 aircraft. In June 2020, the order was shuffled and the E190-E2 replaced the E175 in Embraer’s backlog, in addition to the newest firm order for the E195-E2.
