Embraer foresees that its commercial aircraft orders will come in below 2025's total this year but remains confident in E-Jet demand. During first-quarter earnings call on 8 May, Embraer chief executive Francisco Gomes Neto said the Brazilian airframer was currently involved in E-Jet sales campaigns in "almost all" regions across the globe. "We are optimistic that we will have a good year as well," he says, but he adds: "Not as good as last year, because last year we had amazing sales of E-Jets." Cirium data shows that Embraer received 221 E-Jet orders last year. These comprised 142 E195-E2s, 15 E190-E2s and 64 E175s. Orders had totalled 120 in 2024 and 75 in 2023. Gomes Neto acknowledges that airlines have reduced capacity and cut costs as a result of fuel-price increases amid the Middle East conflict. "Our commercial aviation team is looking at that very closely. But so far, we haven't seen any impact," he says, adding: "We haven't seen any customer postponing [aircraft acquisition] campaigns or having even asked us to delay the delivery of aircraft." In the realm of production, Embraer has made progress in efforts to ease supply-chain bottlenecks and spread deliveries more evenly across the year, it says. "We still have some pacers that we are working with very closely [which are] pushing our deliveries further to the next quarters," notes Gomes Neto. "But we have seen a lot of improvements." Deliveries of Pratt & Whitney PW1900G engines for E190-E2s and E195-E2s are "under control", while supply of GE Aerospace CF34-8E engines for the E175 is "improving", he says. Overall, Gomes Neto sees no risk to Embraer's February-issued guidance of 80-85 E-Jet deliveries in 2026, up from 78 last year. Efforts to spread deliveries more evenly across the year will continue into 2027, he says. Work with suppliers is underway to ensure "we will have a better start in '27 than we had in '26". During the first quarter, the manufacturer delivered 10 E-Jets, up from seven last year. Embraer targets annual production of 120 E-Jets by the end of 2029, says Gomes Neto. The commercial aircraft division's first-quarter adjusted EBIT loss nearly tripled to $28 million, from $9.7 million last year, while its revenue grew 45% to $293 million as a result of increased deliveries and pricing. Group-wide adjusted EBIT increased 52% to $94 million on the back of 31% growth in revenue, to $1.45 billion.

European regulators have published guidance for the use of both Jet A-1 and Jet A fuel to alleviate potential supply shortages amid the Middle East crisis and to avoid confusion between the two fuel grades. "Aviation and fuel supply stakeholders are reviewing the feasibility of introducing [Jet A] at locations traditionally supplied with Jet A-1," the European Union Aviation Safety Agency says in a safety information bulletin. It notes that Jet A-1 is "predominantly used" in Europe and "many other parts of the world", citing Africa, Australia, India and southeast Asia as examples. EASA observes that "Jet A is used daily for flights from and within the USA and Canada". Adopting Jet A in other locations "would not generate safety concerns provided that its introduction is properly managed", the agency says. But it warns: "The transition to Jet A in a Jet A-1 environment, when not properly managed, creates risk of fuel grade confusion, particularly in the communication between fuel suppliers, flight crews, and airlines. This may lead to a mismatch between the actual fuel properties and the assumptions used for flight planning, fuel temperature monitoring, and crew procedures." EASA highlights a higher maximum freezing point and lower electrical conductivity of Jet A compared to Jet A-1. If an aircraft was fuelled with Jet A but its pilots assumed that Jet A-1 was delivered – for example through incorrect electronic transmission of a fuel ticket – it could result in the aircraft "flying outside of its safe operating limits", EASA warns, adding: "These risks may be further exacerbated by inconsistent fuel grade availability across airports, increasing the likelihood of mixing fuel grade and associated assumption mismatches." In addition to aircraft and aerodrome operators, the bulletin is directed at fuel producers and suppliers, organisations involved in storing and dispensing of aviation fuel at aerodromes, authorities, and design approval holders. The regulator stresses that the bulletin is "addressing a transitory situation" and providing guidance. "It shall not be interpreted as an authorisation or endorsement, nor shall it be construed to promote the transition towards turbine jet fuel of Jet A grade in Europe," it asserts.

Even the most profitable airlines are being compelled by high fuel prices to shrink their operations, Azul's chief executive John Rodgerson has observed. "The best-run airlines in the world have cut capacity," Rodgerson said on 7 May during an earnings call. "That's a fact, across the board." The Brazilian carrier's chief revenue officer Abhi Shah adds: "You have guys like United [Air Lines] talking about cutting capacity, and other airlines [doing the same thing]. Even Delta [Air Lines] cut like 3% in June, or something like that." Flights that airlines say are "unprofitable" – meaning not enough customers are willing to pay the suddenly skyrocketing fares for those flights – are being cut from schedules. Additionally, a reduction in overall capacity creates a scarcity of product that aids airlines in raising fares as they attempt to make consumers shoulder the brunt of high jet-fuel costs. United's first-quarter profit came in at $997 million, up from $607 million in the same period last year. The US major notes that it expects capacity growth for the rest of 2026 to be 5 percentage points lower than originally planned. It now foresees that third- and fourth-quarter capacity growth will range between flat and up 2% year on year. Delta reported a first-quarter operating profit of $501 million, down from a $569 million profit made in 2025's first quarter. After having raised first-quarter capacity by 3% year on year, the Atlanta-based carrier intends to keep second-quarter capacity flat with last year's period. Azul exited Chapter 11 on 20 February after filing for bankruptcy protection in the USA on 28 May 2025. Shah notes that as part of Azul's restructuring, it had planned for a "very conservative growth profile" before the Iran war started in late February. Azul had intended to raise capacity for full-year 2026 by 1% year on year. It ended up reducing first-quarter capacity by 2.7% year on year. "In addition to that, we've already made capacity adjustments for May and June," Shah says. "We've taken about 5% capacity out for May and June, and we will strategically roll that forward as needed. So that plus 1[% year-on-year capacity growth] that was the public plan on exit most likely is now going to be negative for the whole year." Rodgerson argues that Azul's recent restructuring enables it to cut capacity quickly. "Our [aircraft] ownership cost is down by 30% permanently, and we have a much more flexible fleet plan going forward [that] allows us to react," he says. He also notes that Azul's lease liabilities are down 42% year on year. Of the carrier's 198 in-service or stored aircraft, 185 are under operating lease, Cirium fleets data shows. "Unfortunately, airlines buy aircraft well in advance, and they're [being delivered during] a Middle Eastern crisis," Rodgerson says. "It's a bit harder to take capacity out when you're taking new metal with high ownership cost." Shah adds: "We don't have to do anything stupid. We don't have to take airplanes that we don't want." Azul's restructuring also drove down first-quarter expenses, helping the carrier make an operating profit of R1 billion ($203 million), up 83% year on year. The carrier says that first-quarter unit cost (CASK) was down 5.7%, "primarily driven by the structural cost initiatives implemented during our restructuring process". It adds: "Throughout the restructuring, we executed a comprehensive renegotiation of contracts with suppliers, optimised operating expenses, and implemented efficiency measures across the organisation." Total operating expenses in the first quarter came in at R4.43 billion, down 8.2%. Revenue grew 1.4%, to R5.47 billion. Azul ended the first quarter with liquidity of R4.7 billion. In February, it raised $750 million through its equity rights offering and $1.38 billion via its exit financing, and paid down its debtor-in-possession financing. Its gross debt at the end of the first quarter stood at R20.6 billion.