Embraer during 2023 expects to improve its output by shipping 65-70 commercial aircraft to customers, along with 120-130 executive aircraft shipments despite ongoing supply-chain hurdles that limit its available pool of engines for jet production. The Brazilian manufacturer forecasts progress compared with its delivery rate during 2022, when it shipped 57 commercial E-Jets and 102 executive jets. Embraer generated $2 billion during the fourth quarter, rising by 53% year on year from $1.3 billion. Full year 2022 revenue was $4.5 billion, rising by 7% from 2021. Fourth-quarter net profit stood at $23 million, improving dramatically from $3 million during that period in 2021. The parent company during full year 2022, however, made a net loss of $185 million, versus a $45 million loss in 2021. Embraer during 2022 derived 34% of its total revenue from the commercial aircraft segment, which generated $1.5 billion during the full year. The commercial segment generated $821 million during the fourth quarter, which was 41% of the parent company’s quarterly revenue and signalled a recovery in regional jet demand by nearly doubling year on year from $414 million. The airframer predicts that its full year 2023 revenue could be $5.2-5.7 billion, Embraer president and chief executive Francisco Gomez Neto said on 10 March during a call with reporters. While supply-chain challenges are expected to begin improvement by the second half of 2023, Neto says, “our aircraft production is limited because of the number of engines we are receiving”. In addition to delayed engine shipments there are shortages and delayed shipments of “hydraulic systems and other pieces of equipment”, Neto says, adding that a shortage of pilots at airlines also hinders demand for new E-Jet orders. Embraer’s new E195-E2 aircraft are powered by Pratt & Whitney’s PW1900G geared turbofan engines. “This year will have some challenges on the supply chain and we hope things will go back to normal in 2024,” he says. The airframer has temporarily paused its plans to produce a new regional turboprop aircraft but Neto says “we have several engineers still working on it”. “We are still working on deciding what the best engine for that aircraft would be,” he says. Signs of economic downturn contributed to the postponement of the turboprop programme, Embraer commercial unit vice-president of marketing and strategy Rodrigo Silva e Souza said on 17 January during the Airline Economics Growth Frontiers conference in Dublin. While Neto says production of a turboprop is unlikely “on a short-term basis”, he adds “we still believe it is a good product and there is a market for it”. Demand for a new aircraft, Embraer said in October, stems in part from ATR having a “de facto monopoly” in regional turboprop manufacturing following the sale by Bombardier to De Havilland Canada of its Dash 8-400 programme and the subsequent halt in production.

Travellers departing from China will no longer be required to test negative for Covid-19 prior to boarding a flight bound for the USA as of 10 March, as reduced infections and hospitalisations enable a boost for transpacific travel recovery.The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lifted the testing requirement that had been in place since January following a spike of new Covid infections in China. The CDC says that it had been concerned about “a lack of transparency” from China’s government about Covid cases in that nation, so “this public health measure was put in place to protect US citizens and communities as we worked to both identify the size of the surge and gain better insights into the variants that were circulating”. “Since the implementation of the policy, we have evidence that cases, hospitalisations and deaths are declining” in China, the agency adds. The USA will continue to monitor cases, the CDC says, through methods including by asking travellers to volunteer to help with early detection of new variants.

Data from IATA shows that the recovery in air travel demand has continued into 2023, as January traffic reached 84% of 2019 levels and was up 67% year on year. The data highlights ongoing month-to-month improvements. December traffic, as measured in revenue passenger-kilometres, was at 77% of the 2019 level. International RPKs more than doubled year on year in January and hit 77% of 2019 levels. Growth was led by airlines in Asia-Pacific, notes IATA. Global domestic traffic grew by just under a third year on year and was at 97% of the level four years previously, bolstered by the easing of travel restrictions in China. "Air travel demand is off to a very healthy start in 2023," states IATA director general Willie Walsh. "The rapid removal of Covid-19 restrictions for Chinese domestic and international travel bodes well for the continued strong industry recovery from the pandemic throughout the year. And, importantly, we have not seen the many economic and geopolitical uncertainties of the day dampening demand for travel." Asia-Pacific's international RPKs were nearly five times higher than a year earlier, by far the largest increase of any region. Traffic rose 125% in Africa and nearly doubled in the Middle East. IATA believes that with strong travel demand holding up through the Northern Hemisphere's winter season, busy spring and summer seasons are in prospect. Walsh adds, however: "At a time when many are just beginning to enjoy their newly restored travel freedoms, it is especially disappointing to see the Dutch government making plans to limit their movements by unilaterally and unjustly reducing operations at Schiphol airport."