Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thanks for standing by. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Its broadcast is intended exclusively for the participants of these events and may not be reproduced or retransmitted without the express authorization of Embraer. This conference call will be conducted in English, but please let me say a short announcement for Portuguese speakers. My name is Gui Paiva, and I'm the Head of Investor Relations, M&A and Venture Capital for Embraer. Welcome to Embraer's 1st quarter 2026 earnings conference call. The numbers in this presentation contain non-GAAP financial information to help investors reconcile Eve's financial information in GAAP standards to Embraer's IFRS. We remind you Eve's results were discussed at the company's conference call earlier this week. Before we begin, a legal notice to everyone.
This presentation may contain forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties as detailed in the disclaimer available in the slides and in the documents filed with the Brazilian Securities Commission, CVM. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. Instructions for the Q&A session will be provided later. Participants on today's conference call are Francisco Gomes Neto, President and CEO of Embraer, Felipe Santana, Chief Financial Officer, Thais Moraes, Corporate Communications Director, and myself. This conference call consists of three parts. First, we will present the results for the first quarter of 2026. Second, we will host a Q&A session exclusively for investors. Finally, we will hold a dedicated Q&A session for the press. It is my pleasure now to turn the conference call to our President and CEO, Francisco Gomes Neto. Please go ahead, Francisco.
Thank you, Gui. Good morning and good afternoon to everyone. It is a pleasure to be here with you to share Embraer's first quarter 2026 results. We achieved the strongest first quarter revenue in our history, the highest aircraft deliveries in a decade, in another all-time record backlog. We continue to see tangible progress in production leveling and greater stability across our assembly lines. As a side note, Q2 is up for a great start. Shout out to the UAE, who just signed a purchase agreement for 10 C-390 aircraft plus 10 options, the second biggest order after the Brazilian Air Force. This gives us confidence not only to deliver on our 2026 guidance, but also to pursue our midterm ambition of double-digit billion revenues and double-digit EBIT margins. Turning to the highlights of the quarter. Commercial aviation.
Order of 18 E195-E2 jets from Finnair, another very important customer in Europe. Executive Aviation. Best 1st quarter of the decade, driven by strong demand in the launch of the new Praetor 500E and Praetor 600E in the mid and super mid segments. Defense & Security. Double-digit revenue growth. Momentum for C-390 and A-29 platforms, plus a new partnership with Northrop Grumman for the U.S. NGAS program. Services & Support. Expanding recurring revenues through fresh contracts, including Airnorth for E170, E190 fleets, and Hungary for its C-390 fleet. 44 aircraft delivered last quarter, 10 commercial jets, 29 executive jets and five defense. Year-over-year growth. Nearly 50% increase overall, with commercial aviation up 43% and executive aviation up 26%. Commercial aviation guidance.
10 commercial jets delivered equal 12% of guidance midpoint, one point above the five year average. Executive aviation guidance. 29 jets delivered equal 18% of guidance midpoint and seven points above the five year average. Company backlog reached BRL 32 billion in the quarter, up 22% year-over-year. A new historical record for the 6th consecutive time. Commercial aviation backlog reached BRL 15 billion, up 50% year-over-year, with an impressive three book-to-bill ratio over the past 12 months. Other segments backlog. Executive aviation, Defense & Security and Services & Support totaled BRL 17.1 billion, up mid-single digits year-over-year, with the book-to-bill ratios at or slightly above one. Approximately BRL 20 billion in options, which could expand the backlog beyond BRL 50 billion as exercised over time. Now, I would like to share a brief update on Eve's steady progress.
The taxi campaign is transitioning towards horizontal flights in the second quarter, with our prototype having already completed more than 54 flights. In a total of two hours and 17 minutes of flight time year to date. I will now turn the call over to Felipe to walk you through our financial results. Felipe, over to you.
Thank you, Francisco. Good morning and good afternoon, everyone. Let me start with the results by business unit. Our comparisons are year-over-year, unless otherwise noted. Slide nine, Commercial Aviation and Executive Aviation. Starting with Commercial Aviation, revenues were up 45% to $293 million, driven by higher deliveries and pricing. Adjusted EBIT was -$28 million with a -9.7% of margin due to client mix logistics costs and the absence of suppliers credits recorded last year. In Executive Aviation, revenues increased nearly 30% to $480 million, reflecting strong demand and favorable product mix. Adjusted EBIT reached $25 million with a +6% of margin. The declining margin was mainly due to U.S. import tariffs, client mix, and higher selling expenses. Slide 10, Defense, Security, and Services Support.
In Defense Security, revenues increased 62%, reaching $227 million. Adjusted EBIT was $38 million with a positive 17% of margin, driven by higher KC-390 revenue recognition, increased A-29 production, and positive one-time items. In Services & Support, revenues reached $490 million. Adjusted EBIT totaled $70 million with a positive 14.3% of margin, supported by materials and more than offsetting the impact of U.S. import tariffs. Slide 12, Net Revenues. At a consolidated level, net revenues increased 31% to $1.4 billion in the first quarter, representing 17% of guidance midpoint, two points above the five-year historical average. From a business mix perspective, services accounted for 34% of revenues, commercial and executive aviation around 20% each, and defense 16%. Slide 13, Adjusted EBITDA and EBIT.
Adjusted EBITDA was BRL 144 million with 9.9% margin, a small increase compared to a year ago. Adjusted EBIT was $94 million with 6.5% margin, 1 point higher year-over-year and 7.7 points above the five year average. Slide 14, Free Cash Flow and Investments. Adjusted Free Cash Flow excluding IF was -$447 million in the quarter. This reflects our preparation for higher numbers of aircraft deliveries in the coming quarters. Investments totaled BRL 99 million during the quarter compared to BRL 88 million last year, including BRL 38 million in CapEx, BRL 36 million in tangible additions, BRL 14 million in the pool program, and BRL 11 million in research. Slide 15, Adjusted Net Income. Adjusted Net Income was BRL 28 million in the last quarter, a decrease of -$22 million.
The adjusted net income margin was +1.9%, down 2.6 points. Earnings per ADS improved from -1.0 in 2022 to 1.9 in 2025, and now stands at 1.7 on the last 12-month basis. Slide 16, Financial Position. Financial leverage stood at 0.6x debt to EBITDA, if we exclude IF, or 0.1 times higher than last year, driven by a lower cash position. Our average debt maturity is still at a comfortable 8.7 years and its average cost at 5.6% in U.S. dollars. Shareholder remuneration. For FY 2025, we distributed 25% of net income, declaring a total of BRL 524.90 million in shareholder remuneration through interest on equity and dividends.
This corresponds to BRL 0.0072 per share and a dividend yield of approximately 0.9%. With that, I will hand it back to Francisco for his final remarks. Thank you.
Thank you, Felipe. The first quarter, 2026 strengthens our belief in Embraer's strategic positioning and execution capability. Rising deliveries, sustained demand across all segments, and expanding recurring revenues are converging to fuel sustainable top-line growth. These results reflect the discipline, the focus, and commitment of our people across the organization. That same discipline drives efficiency while we invest in new technologies to enable ambitious and profitable long-term expansion. Anchored by our values, safety first and quality always guiding everything we do, this approach positions Embraer to keep delivering value for our customers, employees, and shareholders. With that, I would like to move on to the Q&A.
We will now start the question and answer session. We remind you again, this conference is being recorded. Its broadcast is intended exclusively for the participants of this event and may not be reproduced or retransmitted without the express authorization of Embraer. We also highlight this conference call is being conducted in English with translation to Portuguese. Please let me say a short announcement for Portuguese speakers. We request participants interested in asking questions to press the Raise a Hand button on the platform. When your name is announced, make sure your microphone is on and start your question. To give everyone a chance to participate, we request to ask just one question per time. If you need assistance, please use the Q&A button on the platform. We will also answer questions sent via the platform chat.
The first part of the Q&A session will be exclusively for equity research analysts and investors. The second part of the Q&A will be only for the press. The first question comes from Kristine Liwag with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Please hold a sec.
Hi, good morning, everyone. Thank you for sharing your results this morning. You know, Francisco, Felipe and Felipe, congratulations on your new role. You know, you've got a record backlog, you know, I'm recognizing that the business is a position of strength. Can you talk about how Iran and oil prices are affecting customers' decision regarding their fleet? Is this a period where they're leaning on and really evaluating new airplanes? Are they looking at continued life extensions of the existing aircraft that they have? Any color that you have to share about how they're looking at this dynamic would be helpful. Thank you.
Hi, Kristine. Thank you very much for your question. You know, we are closely monitoring the situation on the war. Rising costs, of course, may impact airlines' fleet expansion and renewal plans. However, at this time, there is no direct impact on Embraer. We don't see any diminishing interest in new campaigns or any movement to delay deliveries.
Great. Super helpful. If I could follow up on another question. You know, we've seen that, you know, the E2 weighs less than the A220. I think the weight difference is something like 8,000 kg. In this environment where airlines are reminded again that, you know, oil is a variable that they can't control and can vary widely. Are they factoring this in about the decision when they're evaluating the A220 and the E2? Is this environment incrementally better for the E2 from what you've seen? Are there signs of that or are we still in early stages for those kinds of campaigns?
No, absolutely. We see now. We are now very well-positioned with E2 in this environment because, you know, we have the most efficient aircraft in that segment of a small narrow body, and we see more and more airlines showing interest in this in our product. Again, we are, let's say, cautiously optimistic about the new campaigns with the E2s.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Marcelo Motta with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
Hey. Hi, everyone. Francisco, Felipe, congrats for the new position. Well deserved. It's a question regarding the defense one-off, the $25 million. If you guys could explain us, you know, a little bit more details on, you know, what it means, you know, and what it happen now. Any information that can help us to, you know, to figure out the $25 million will be very helpful. Thank you.
Hi, Marcelo. Gui Paiva here in Embraer. Thanks for the question. As you know, in defense we have a lot of, we account under percentage of completion methodology. We did have an amendment to a contract with a client in the quarter, and that amendment was calculated retroactively to the start of the contract and therefore we booked that benefit fully in the quarter. That explains the BRL 25 million for the division.
Perfect. Super clear. Thank you, Gui.
The next question comes from Luis Raffetto with Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning, Louis.
Hey, Gui. Maybe just to follow up on that. Was that something that would have been expected for this to happen at this year, just timing uncertain, that adjustment in defense, or would that be incremental to the full year?
No, that was something that was expected by us. The timing was a little bit ahead that we had booked and expected, it was forecasted for the year.
Okay, great. Thank you. On the share repo, you've done two quarters in a row now. Is this something we should continue to expect to see?
We're taking a conservative approach because of the current and high uncertainties, and we prefer to wait for additional visibility before making any change to our outlook, but we are very comfortable on the midpoint of our guidance.
Thank you very much.
The next question comes from Ron Epstein with Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hey, good morning, guys. In your prepared remarks, you mentioned about investments in the future. Could you walk through what you're thinking about those investments, and could you discuss a little bit where you're investing for the future?
Hi, Ron. Felipe here. Thank you for the question. As we mentioned, we keep investing on our increase of production in Melbourne facility to support the increase of the backlog on this activation. Also, we continue to invest to increase our footprint, especially on the MRO in Texas that we'll be investing. Also we'll be investing in OGMA to increase the production also on the KC and also on the GTF program. This is the focus of the investment of the company currently.
Maybe if I can complement you, Felipe. We are also investing in new technologies, Ron. I mean, to be prepared for, you know, a new cycle of products of Embraer in the next future.
Got it. What are you all seeing in your own supply chain today? I know engines have been a gating factor with your ability to deliver aircraft at a quicker rate. How is the engine supply chain going and other areas where you're seeing challenges in the supply chain? I know in the executive aviation industry, things like, you know, just windows have been hard to get a hold of. How is that going?
Thanks for the question, Ron. I mean, we still have some pacers that we are working with them very closely, that, you know, is pushing our deliveries further to the next quarters. We have seen a lot of improvements. You can see by the deliveries we made in the Q1. I mean, 47% more than we did in Q1 last year. This shows how the situation is improving. Regarding engines specifically, I mean, E2 we have the situation under control in terms of deliveries. E1 improving as well. We don't see any risk for us for our guidance this year in terms of production and deliveries.
We are working closely with the suppliers to improve the delivery cadence that we can level our production. You know, I mean, improving the, in this year, but achieving a highest level of leveling production in 2027.
Got it. Got it. Can you speak to a little bit of any, how do I say it? Ongoing campaigns in regions of the world. Are there any regions of the world that are hotter today than others in terms of campaigns for E1 or E2?
There are campaigns in almost all the regions, for E-Jets. We normally do not disclose all the campaigns, but we are optimistic that we will have a good year as well. Not as good as last year, because last year we had amazing sales of E-Jets, but this year is going to be good as well.
Got it. Thank you.
You are welcome, Ron.
The next question comes from André Ferreira with Bradesco BBI. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I wanted to congratulate Felipe on the new job. Going back to the one-off items this quarter. Tariffs are clear. Impacts on the defense, I think you probably had a previous question. On the commercial side, maybe not really a one-off, but we're seeing higher logistics costs. Could you give more details? Like, did it accelerate production rates or deliveries or was it something else? If you could give us a color of how much impact that was on margins or in USD. Thank you.
Hola, Andre. Hi, André . Felipe here. Thank you for your question. We do have these logistics costs, we believe there was much more one item during the first quarter. We don't foresee that on the coming quarters. This basically was around $7 million of impact on the first quarter.
Okay. Thank you. Was it related to anything specific or different from the previous quarters?
No. No, nothing different.
Okay. Thank you. Have a good day.
Thank you.
You too.
The next question comes from Lucas Marquiori with BTG. Please go ahead.
Hey, guys. Morning, and welcome Felipe to the group. Just one question on defense and regarding these latest contract you guys signed with the Emirates. Just wanted to know if that is a kind of a building platform for that client to maybe distribute more of your products throughout the region. You know, like, I mean, if there's any kind of a volume upside on top of that signed contract already, or how do you guys see this kind of opportunity in the Middle East? Second question on margin pace, though, I mean, how good was the delivered margin versus your forecast, right?
In terms of deliveries, in terms of volumes, you guys had a stronger quarter, but even looking on a year-over-year comparison, your margins were slightly weaker, right? I know there's climate, there's logistics costs. There are all of the sorts of the effects that you guys already mentioned, but just wanted to know if that's already included on your curves for expected margin improvement throughout the year, you know? Thanks, guys, for the questions.
Right. Lucas, good morning. Francisco here. I will start with the question number one , and then Felipe will help you with Gui, hopefully, to help with the question number two. Well, I don't need to tell you how happy we are with this new order in the Middle East, the first one in the region for the KC-390. Very important and relevant order. I mean, 10 aircraft firms and 10 options. Yes, this open opportunity for us to extend new deals with the neighborhood in the region, right? I mean, it shows that happens, it happened in Europe that, you know, this aircraft really is the best in class in that segment.
Going to the Middle East, yes, we see an opportunity for new sales in the region with the KC, and these 10 options can help us to do that, you know, the same thing we have with Portugal and we have with the Netherlands. Now, Felipe, Gui, I think you will take care of the second one, right?
Yes. Thanks for the question, Lucas. Good to hear you. We know we operate a complex business, obviously there are fluctuations that happen quarter to quarter. I think most importantly, if we're looking forward, we feel very confident and comfortable with the guidance that we put out, with 9% of EBIT margin at the midpoint of it. If we continue to see the status quo of tariffs not being implemented on Brazil and on us, we estimate in the last quarter that we could see an additional 60 basis for the year.
Thank you, guys. Have a good day.
You too, Lucas.
The next question comes from Noah Poponak with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning, everyone.
Morning.
Maybe on the margin question and topic, just given, you know, some moving pieces, as Gui just alluded to, the quarterly volatility that can happen. If we take the full year total company margin guidance that you have, is it possible to just speak to, for full year 2026 versus 2025, what you see by segment? Which segments are higher, which are lower directionally?
Thank you, Noah. Felipe here. What we foresee when we compare, right? By business units is the on commercial, probably going to see stable compared to last year. On defense, an improvement going up. Executive as well, going up, and Services & Support as well. Most of the growth that we're going to see will be pushed by these three business units and commercial much more steady.
Okay, great. That's helpful. As you've discussed investing in output for executive, where does that get you on, you know, possible capable annual deliveries? Where do you want to take supply annual deliveries relative to the effort to, you know, grow and give customers jets, but also keep a backlog and keep supply demand tight?
Noah, this is really a great question. This is, you know, a combination of our supply chain capabilities and our own production capabilities. We are working on both fronts. We are investing in expanding our sites in Brazil, Portugal, and the United States over the past two years. You know, and also optimizing our the utilization of our assets, producing more aircraft in the same area. In parallel, we have been working very closely with our key suppliers to make sure that they will supply the parts we need to support our growth. We are growing year after year. We are growing this year. We are going to grow in the following years.
We have seen that by the end of the decade, we expect to reach production of 120 commercial jets and 200 executive jets and 10 KC-390. This is the plan. We have been working on. Also very important, we want to deliver all the aircraft on time to our customers, and we are improving that direction as well.
Okay. Maybe just the last one on defense revenue and growth. Given the growth rate in the quarter, obviously it's an easier absolute dollar compare in the year-ago quarter. I guess what's within the total company full year 2026 revenue guidance, what's assumed for defense growth or a range of dollars? As you execute on that program growth beyond this year, how can we think about or how can you frame where defense revenues can make it to, you know, closer to the end of the decade?
Felipe here, Noah. Thank you. On defense, right? We don't give specific numbers, but the way that we see is that, around six, probably six aircraft this year, KC-390s, and 12 A-29. That's the way that we see, and we see, this pace of deliveries growing, especially on KC-390, year per year, up to 10 aircraft in the end of the decade.
If I may follow on to complement this answer. Noah, we have been working in a new initiative we call Pull to the Left, which aim to anticipate the revenues and higher profitability. We are focusing on enhancing our execution process, accelerating revenue, and improving profitability at a faster pace. As things are now coming to a more stable situation, we believe there is an opportunity for us to accelerate our efficiency programs within the company.
Okay. Excellent. Thank you so much.
You are welcome, Noah.
The next question comes from Daniel Gasparete with Itaú BBA. Please go ahead.
Good morning, guys. Thank you very much for the opportunity. A few questions here from my side. The first one would be to, if you could kindly, walk us through what happened, what affected the margins on the executive aviation. You mentioned expenses with the Praetor. Just to get a better idea of how much it was, how was the margin would be excluded for that? That would be the question number one. Also, if you could comment on the same dynamic for the commercial aviation. Secondly, would be on the adjustments on the Republic order, just to have a better understanding of how that works, in terms of is there any kind of cost for the client?
I mean, it's like a conversation to have with them, and you can simply accommodate them, or does that change the price? Does this have any kind of fee? Just have a better understanding of how that works in terms of rearrangement of the orders. Thank you very much.
Felipe here, Gasparete. Thank you for your question. The first question I will answer here. When I look to executive aviation, the margins, right? The margin was pressured, reflecting U.S. tariffs, right? We had the U.S. tariffs this quarter that we didn't have last year. Also the customer mix. We had much more fractional companies being delivered compared to the last year. Also with the launch of the new Praetor 500 and 600E models, we also had an impact of the selling expenses to that. The way that we see the coming quarters will be normalized, and we don't expect any more impacts on the margins of executive aviation. The second question, Gui will take you.
Hi, Gasparete. Thanks for the question. In terms of the Republic order, I think it's important to highlight first that there was no change whatsoever to the total order of aircraft order with us and in the backlog. The adjustment was purely limited to the delivery schedule, which was revised by a mutual agreement between the two parties. Replacement slots were reallocated for other customers. It should have no impact on our deliveries for the next few years.
Okay. Great. Thank you, Felipe. Thank you, Gui.
The next question comes from Alberto Valerio with UBS. Please go ahead.
Morning, Francisco, Felipe, Gui. Thank you for taking my question. First, welcome, Felipe. It would be a pleasure to work with you. Contact owners if you need anything. I have two on my side. The first on tariffs. I would like to know if this was 1 non-recurring item on the first quarter. I thought this new 10% tariff would not be hitting the aerospace products. The second one also on tariffs, the Section 232 has any involvement or any impact on your cost, is on the cost of your suppliers from Mexico and Canada? The second one is about the book-to-bill. How have been in the second quarter? What should expect for the divisions?
If you could tell us if change expectation, because or I imagine that service might change with some grounding of all the aircraft. If you make comment on this one. Thank you very much.
Felipe here. Thank you, Albert, for your question. Again, the tariffs, right, we had the impact on the first quarter of $13 million.
Mainly related to inventory effects. Looking forward, we still have another 11 million inventory that should impact the second quarter of this year. When we look right to the potential impact of the US Section 232, we maintain the services that our guys give it everything that's going on, right? This reflects a conservative approach that we do have. As soon as we have more visibility, we can make any changes on the guidance or share with you what we have of impact. Also on your second questions, we don't give any information about the book-to-bill in the current quarter, okay?
Perfect. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Andre Mazini with Citi. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi, Francisco, Felipe, Gui. Welcome to the call and CFO position, Felipe. Happy to chat. The first one, we see, Rolls-Royce wanting to go back to the narrow body engine market, which is currently dominated by CFM's LEAP and Pratt's GTF. Wanted to ask you guys if Embraer is already in conversation with Rolls-Royce for any future partnership, likely for future projects, new airframes, but, if you guys are speaking to Rolls. This is the first one, then I have a second.
The question. I mean, we are making studies for a new cycle of products for Embraer, right? I mean, either a commercial jet or a business jet. In that regard, we are talking to potential suppliers, I mean, of the different products to understand the new technology and so on. I cannot disclose more details on that. I mean, with a specific number, we talk to all of them, but I don't have specific information to share with you about this or that specific supplier.
Perfect. Perfect. Thank you, Francisco. The second one on a potential competition. Boeing is slated to certify the 777 dash 7 later this year. The dash 7 is a 140-seat jet, so a little bit larger in terms of seat count than the E195-E2. Do you think the dash 7 competes in any sense with the E195-E2, or given that it's a more expensive and longer range plane, it should be used for totally different missions or if there's any overlap? Thank you.
They might compete with us in one or other campaign, but we believe that for that segment, up to 160 seats, the E2 is the most competitive jets, you know, the most efficient jet in that segment. We believe the we might have some competition in some campaigns, but we are very confident that the E2 is the best option for the customers to complement the larger narrow bodies. It was developed for that segment with all the experience Embraer acquired with the first generation. Again, and the more and more customers are seeing that. We have now 24 customers for our E2s and are working in different new campaigns as well.
Thank you, Francisco.
The next question comes from Lucas Laghi with XP. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Francisco, Gui, Felipe. Congrats on the new role. I have a question on defense. I mean, showing a very strong commercial activity right on the C-390 front. Just wanted to better understand and considering your current capacity output, I guess you mentioned like 6 aircraft this year, expectations for 10 aircraft by the end of the decade. Just better understanding, considering your current backlog, how full are your capacity, considering Brazilian footprint, as we speak, and if you see a further space for accelerating new orders without any new expansion. On this context, I mean, if new orders continue to accelerate, if you see any potential room for expansion in your facility here at Brazil.
I mean, on the topic, we understand the optionalities by building a new plant on the U.S., on India. Just if you could give us an update on that front as well, and how are those conversations with India and the U.S. evolving, I mean, your partnership with Northrop Grumman. Just better understanding the whole capacity on utilization context on the C-390. Thank you.
Very good question. First, I mean, we are investing to expand our production capacity for the KC-390, as I said, growing one per year, six 2026, seven 2027, eight 2028, nine 2029, and 10 in 2030. This capacity is enough to support the current sales campaigns we are working on. In parallel, we are working in opportunities that might bring much higher volumes like India and the U.S., right? Those campaigns will require a localization of our production. India is moving, is progressing as planned with the Indian Air Force. We are working very close to that campaign. If we win that campaign, the aircraft will be assembled in India with a lot of local suppliers as well.
This will help us to increase the capacity and fulfill the requirement of the MTA program in India. On the other front, U.S. is the same. We now are working with the Northrop Grumman to develop, you know, the boom and other systems capabilities to, you know, to make sure that the KC-390 will be ready, I mean, to enter in the U.S. Air Force. Also, if we win a relevant order, this aircraft will be assembled in the U.S. as well. With those two fronts, we will be able to increase our capacity and of course, to grow significantly our defense business.
Thank you. Thank you, Francisco.
You are welcome, Lucas.
Thank you all very much. Now we'll start the question and answer session dedicated to the press. 1st, we will answer questions in English, and then we will answer questions in Portuguese. We'll also answer questions sent via the platform chat. Please hold while we poll for questions. The 1st question comes from Richard Schuurman with AirInSight. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Can you hear me?
Yes, we can, Richard. Go ahead.
All right. Good morning. Hello, hello. I have two questions actually. In your remarks and answers, you mentioned the leveling of the production going to 2027. The original plan was to get to a more level production level already this year. What are the reasons that this is pushed out to 2027? My second question is, as you have been aware, on Wednesday, Tony Fernandes announced the big order for the Airbus A220. He also mentioned that he was taking or had taken a serious look at the Embraer E2. What's your view? Have you been given a fair chance to offer the E2 to AirAsia? At what stage did you get in the negotiations?
All right. Let's start with the question number one, Richard. Yeah, we are having progress leveling our production this year. I mean, executive jets, we are now almost with the production leveled. I mean, we saw good improvements in Q1 last year and this year again. We see this, the Phenom and the Praetor, we now see the production almost leveled at the level we are looking for. 2027 will be just a fine adjustment for executive jets. On commercial jets, Richard, we have some more challenges because of some pacers, suppliers. We did it better this year, and we expect to improve even further for 2027. We are working.
We have been working already with the suppliers to make sure that we will have a better start in 27 than we had in 26. Yeah, the program is moving well. Executive jets, more advances, but commercial jets are also improving. The second question about AirAsia. I mean, first of all, I mean, after our customer Scoot, it's good to see another low-cost carrier in the region recognizing the advantages of a small narrow-body jet, right? And this is a trend that we expect to continue as we rebuild our record backlog and huge E2 momentum in the market. Remember, we sold the last year, I mean, almost 200 E2s. Obviously, we would have liked to add AirAsia to our global family of 24 E2 operators.
You know, our competitor, we knew since the beginning that our competitor has a huge incumbents in that airline and earlier slots. And as we did very well last year, I mean, and we also have a lot of opportunities this year, we don't see this a big issue for Embraer. This will not affect our growth plans for commercial jets. Yes, it was a good experience working with AirAsia. I think they understood the benefits of our product. Our product could bring it to their fleet. You know, end of the day, they decide to go with the competition, and we respect their decision.
Okay. Thank you. Can I add one more question in follow-up on the first answer you gave? Do you expect to improve the commercial jet production and get it more level already in the second half of the year?
We are working on that. In this initiative I mentioned before, that we call Pull to the Left. This includes, you know, also production and deliveries, but not in a significant way still this year because of the supply chain. We don't see any risk for us to deliver the guidance we gave to the market of 85 commercial jets and between 160 and 170 business jets. A better improvement in terms of leveling for commercial jets, we will see in 2027 and 2028.
Obrigado.
De nada. Thank you, Richard.
Thank you. The next question comes from Jon Hemmerdinger with FlightGlobal. Please go ahead.
Hello, everyone. I hope you I think you can hear me now. Thanks for doing this. Hey, commercial future for future aircraft, commercial jets, you touched on it briefly, Francisco. Any update you can give us on what segment you're looking at? How large of an aircraft? What timeline would be? We know you've been considering this for several years. What have you learned in the last year? Just tell us more about that, if you could.
Yeah, Jon, thanks for the question. Well, first, as you see, we have been focusing a lot on improving our performance in terms of deliveries and sales of the products we have, right? We have a very modern and competitive portfolio of products, we are increasing our backlog and always with new orders for all the segments, commercial, executive, and defense. This will take us, Embraer, to a very important midterm growth in terms of revenues, in terms of profitability. In parallel, we are investing in new technologies, you know, aero structures, wings, cockpits, and so on, in order to be ready to develop a new airplane.
We are making studies in the, in the two fronts, and we don't have, we are not at the point to disclose or any more information on that because we don't have a decision yet about the segment we want to go to. We know we need a strong product with a strong value proposition, with a robust, I mean, funding strategy because we don't want to put in risk the financial health of the company. Again, we are working in all those fronts, but we are not ready yet to disclose more information on that.
Thank you. I just do wonder if you might say any estimate of timeline, how long you think the E-Jets can carry that growth that you're talking about and when a decision might have to be made.
This does not depend only on us. This depend on the technology available in the market, right, for different products. This is what we are working on, so we don't have a timeline to share with you, Jonathan.
Very good. Thanks for your time.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Steve Trimble with Aviation Week. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you very much. I was just, I wondered if you could say anything more about the timeline for setting up infrastructure for the completion center in the UAE, as well as the delivery schedule for the UAE.
Well, Steve, I mean, we don't have plans for completion centers at this point of time in UAE. We have, we are working to collaborate with the local suppliers in the UAE, this is an ongoing process. We will increase our collaboration with local suppliers. I mean, we mentioned the G5, for example, in case of the KC-390s. We don't have this a plan at this point of time for a completion center. It will be just a collaboration with the local suppliers for us to buy parts made by them.
I see. Do you have a delivery schedule for those UAE C-390?
Yes, we do have. We should start the deliveries by 2028 and continue in the years ahead.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is sent from the chat, was sent from the chat, I'm sorry. It's from Edgardo Gimenez Mazó with Aviacionline. Has the operational debut of the E190 freighter in Europe led to a concrete increase in interest from lessors or express integrators who were previously in the wait-and-see phase? What is your assessment on the program's progress to date?
Could you repeat the question, please?
Of course, sir. Has the operational debut of the E190 freighter in Europe led to a concrete increase in interest from lessors or express integrators who were previously in the wait-and-see phase? What is your assessment of the program's progress to date?
Okay. The freighter. Thank you. Thank you for the question. Yes, we have now a customer. With entering in operation with the E190 freighter, this will help to showcase the product. We believe it's a great product for e-commerce especially. We have a good expectation about the future sales with the E190 freighter.
Thank you very much, sir. The next question comes from Curt Epstein with Aviation International News. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning, gentlemen. Can you hear me?
Good morning. Yes.
Yes. In the beginning, you mentioned the 29 executive jet deliveries for first quarter. You had mentioned there was a disclaimer on there. Is that actually a record for Embraer in the first quarter executive jet deliveries?
Yes, it is, and we are very happy with that.
Okay. Thank you very much.
It's the result of these production leveling efforts.
Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to confirm that. I think you'd said in a decade or something like that, so I just wanna make sure that is actually the record for the company.
Yes. You know, I mean, we are coming from tough times in the past, especially with the supply chain that, you know, was leading us to concentrate deliveries at the end of the year. This means, you know, a weak Q1 because of that concentration the year before. Now we are changing the situation step by step, and this, you know, delivering these executive jets in Q1 this year is proving that we are in the right way.
Thank you so much.
The next question comes from the chat, and it's from Joanna Bailey. How does the UAE's C-390 order help you get a foot in the door in the Middle East? Are you having conversations with other Middle East nations? Could you provide some color on the production level of the C-390 and how you see it ramping up as more orders come in?
All right, Joanna. Joanna, good question. Yes, we do see opportunities to sell the KC-390 to more customers in the region because of this important order of UAE. Yes, we are talking to other customers at this point of time. The third question. The production leveling includes the KC-390 as well. It is a more complex product, complex aircraft, but we have been able to reduce both the production lead time of the aircrafts and to improve the production distribution of the aircraft, I mean, throughout the year. It's The challenge is bigger than the other ones because of the supply chain. We are seeing good progress.
We are seeing good progress as we are seeing with the E-Jets and executive jets as well.
Thank you, sir. The next question also comes from the chat and is from Molly McMillin with Aviation Week. Could you please talk about the demand environment for business jets and whether the war with Iran has created any hesitations or impact? Also, could you please talk about the tariffs when it comes to business jets? How much of an impact does that have on demand? Thank you.
All right. Thanks. Thanks for the question. We have not seen impact so far with that might affect the sales of our business jets. Demand is still strong for our business jets as we have a very modern portfolio, especially now with the launch of the Praetor 500E and 600E that are selling very well. With the tariffs, I would ask my colleagues Felipe and Gui to share more color with you.
Thanks, Francisco. On the tariffs on executive jets, it has impacted our costs, we do think that we have a superior product in the industry versus our competition. Even with the price adjustments that we have taken, it remains very competitive. I think the book-to-bill sales that we posted last year above 1.0 or close to 1.0 was very solid. We continue to have the longest queue of customers in the industry, we'll be selling our products now into 2029. Especially, we are very excited about the new Praetor family with the enhancements that we are in the value proposition that we're giving to our customers.
Thank you, gentlemen. This concludes the question and answer session in English for the press. This question and answer will be now conducted in Portuguese. To switch to English, please press the interpretation button on the platform and then select English.
We will now begin the Q&A session in Portuguese.
First question from Xandu Alves through the chat box. He's from OVALE Newspaper. Could you please give us an update about your negotiations with India and the U.S. Air Force for the sales of KC-390 or C-390? Thank you.
Thank you for your question. A project in India that we call Which is called MTA, Medium Transport Aircraft, is progressing. It's progressing quite well. We are working hard. We have a dedicated team working on that project. Our defense team is dedicated to the project. It's a very large and significant project for Embraer. We are looking at it very closely. We are getting prepared. This will require, you know, local assembly of the plane. This will require the use of several parts made in India. We've been working with our procurement teams, engineering teams, our business teams to prepare ourselves to come up with a very competitive proposal for that campaign. What was the second question again?
About U.S. Air Force.
The same thing in the U.S. We are working at full force. Our defense team is working very closely with Northrop Grumman, our partner, one of the most important defense companies in the U.S. We are also doing campaigns. We took the plane to the U.S. several times to try to convince the U.S. Air Force about the benefits of our aircraft, particularly when it comes to MTS, which is a new generation of boom refueling systems of the fighter jets.
Thank you. Next question is from Raquel Brandão with InvestNews. You may proceed.
Hello, Francisco. Good morning. Good morning to you all. Congrats for your results. Congrats for your results. You had a very strong number in the first quarter. My question is whether-- I mean, how do you see things going forward? I know you're very confident, but I would just like to understand whether somehow this fuel crisis that we are experiencing now and that is putting pressure on the airlines, whether this already has any impact on demand, whether you're having any conversations along these lines. Also in terms of the executive jets and companies that have executive fleet, because certainly fuel is a very important aspect in aviation. I would just like to know whether the cost of fuel is impacting demand or will impact demand going forward and whether deliveries will be postponed or delayed.
Hi, Raquel. It's a pleasure to talk to you. Well, certainly the increase in fuel costs will impact the cost of the airlines and also some expansion plans. We're seeing now many of the airlines cutting costs and canceling flights while the situation is still around us. We are monitoring it very closely. Our commercial aviation team is looking at that very closely. So far, we haven't seen any impact. We haven't seen any customer postponing their sales campaigns, or they haven't even asked us to delay the delivery of aircraft. That's why we are looking at it very close. On the executive side, we are not seeing any impact. The number of hours flown, I mean, it is reaching record levels month after month. Therefore, right now, we don't see any impact to executive aviation.
Our sales continue to move at a very aggressive pace. So far, we aren't seeing any impact, even though we do recognize that this is a very tough situation. That's why we are monitoring very closely. I mean, we are paying close attention to all processes related to efficiency and cost management. We just wanna be prepared for any impact that can be foreseen in the future.
Thank you. Thank you, Francisco, and congrats once again.
The next question is from Cristian Favaro from Valor Econômico. Please go ahead.
Hello, everyone. Can you hear me okay?
Yes. Yes, we can, Cristian.
Well, thank you for taking my question. Before anything else, congratulations, Felipe, on your new position, and welcome. I have a question about production. During the last call, Francisco, you've always said that it is your plan to spread out production a bit more because it used to be a bit more concentrated at the end of the year. These results we've seen in Q1, do you consider them to be success from that plan? Will we see production more spread out along the second and third quarters? Thank you.
Excellent question, Cristian. Yes, it is. This year we will distribute production better between the first and second halves of the year. We'll still have a bit more concentration in the second half of the year, but much less so than we've seen in previous years.
We're already looking at Q1 and to next year so that we can improve distribution even more. We want to increase production in Qs 1 and 2, first half of the year, so we can level it out in the second half of the year. We're working hard on that. We're working hard at our plants to make sure that we are qualifying and preparing people, training them on robust processes so that they can do each task at the right time, and also working with suppliers so that they can deliver the right parts at the right time, and clients so that they can receive the aircraft across the year. We've had good progress, so we should see even more progress in Q2. Q1 was very important because it was quite low last quarter.
We'll also have progress in Q2, which will ensure we have better production, distribution, and deliveries across the 12 months of the year.
Fantastic. Thank you.
The next question is from the chat, from Pedro Bafuzo, CBN Vale. I'd like to hear about the next steps with eVTOL, please.
Good question. eVTOL, well, we've been testing the engineering prototype. Tests have been great. You saw during the presentation, right? 59 flights and over two hours flight time. The next steps will be to transition to the cruise flights. People are getting ready for that. As of next year, we're going to start building the prototype so that we can be ready for certification. It's going very well, and we hope to see even more progress over the next few months. Not only when it comes to the test and development of our products, but also authorities, ANAC, FAA, to prepare the certification process for these aircraft for commercial operations in the future.
Thank you. This concludes Embraer's conference for today. Thank you very much for joining, and have a great day.