A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

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Curt Epstein

Embraer just concluded its best quarter since 2016 in terms of revenue, the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer announced this week during its first-quarter earnings call. Company-wide, the OEM tallied more than $1.1 billion in revenues in the first three months, a 23% year-over-year (YOY) increase.
In commercial aviation, its revenue flow was stable compared to the first quarter of 2024, but its executive jet division saw revenues increase by 35% during that span. Embraer Services and Support rose by 16%, while its defense and security unit had its revenue jump by 72% over its first-quarter 2024 total. The company celebrated orders for its KC-390 multi-use military transport from Sweden and Slovakia. One of the aircraft is in the U.S., providing demonstrations for the U.S. military, and should an order be received, the OEM said those aircraft would be assembled in the U.S.
For the quarter, Embraer set a new firm order backlog of $26.4 billion, surpassing its all-time high set just last quarter. In the first quarter of this year, it delivered 30 aircraft consisting of seven commercial jets (three E-195 E2s and four E1s) and 23 executive jets (two Phenom 100s, 12 Phenom 300s, three Praetor 500s, and six Praetor 600s), a 20% increase YOY.
The company continued to make progress in its goal of leveling off its production schedule throughout the year. In the past, it had backloaded its deliveries towards the end of the year, with the fourth quarter being the busiest as its facilities raced to complete and move aircraft out the door by the end of the year. “Embraer has been working on a production leveling plan since 2023,” said company president Francisco Gomes Neto. “Our main objective is to create stability and have a more linear production pace throughout the year.” He added that the plan will allow Embraer to increase efficiency and productivity, and improve its cash flow. “This year we have already seen the first results of the project, and from 2026 onwards we can expect more stable production over the year.”
One topic of concern is the continuing uncertainty regarding U.S.-imposed tariffs. “We join other companies in calling [for] the return of zero tariff policy for the aviation sector, as has been the case for several decades, reducing complexity and costs for a highly globalized industry,” said Neto.
Under the initially published tariff schedule, Brazil currently faces the lowest tier of tariffs at 10%. Neto explained that the company’s first-quarter results were not impacted by the tariffs imposed thus far. “Our initial analysis points to a limited impact, so we remain confident and reiterate our 2025 guidance,” he said. The manufacturer expects to deliver between 77 and 85 commercial aircraft and 145 to 155 business jets this year. “As a company that has a lot of U.S. content in our aircraft, we always deduct the U.S. content in order to pay the taxes,” added Antonio Carlos Garcia, the manufacturer’s CFO. “That’s why we are still confident we could continue to run our business here, even with this bad, negative impact.”
In terms of supply-chain difficulties, the manufacturer has seen improvements of late, but delays still persist. “The bottlenecks are moving from one product to another,” said Neto. “We still have some issues, more with the fuselage parts where we are still struggling this year, some types of engines that are still delaying deliveries of parts on time to us, but I think we are working very close to the suppliers and at this point in time we don’t see big issues to delivering on our guidance.”

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