London Oxford Airport welcomes Embraer Profit Hunter

The evening of 16 March was special at London Oxford Airport. The airport welcomed the Embraer EMB-195 E2 ‘Profit Hunter’ Demonstrator. Showcasing its unique characteristics to land on shorter runways, it is the largest commercial airliner ever to land at Oxford Airport.  During late 2010, Oxford Airport was a temporary home to an Embraer Lineage 1000 (a VIP version of the EJ-190 commercial variant).  Resplendent in its striking black and gold tech inspired Lion design, Embraer’s 5,000 km range international demonstrator (registration PR-Z1Q) is on a private visit and will be at London Oxford Airport until March 19, before heading on to Cape Verde.  She arrived in from Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus (taking off just before the country closed the airport for international arrivals) touching down on Oxford’s 1,552m (5,092 ft.) runway at 19:15 hours local time.   

Currently on a world tour, visiting prospective airline customers, the jet stopped off at Hydrabad Airport in India and Dubai World Central Airport, UAE.   

“I assure you we are not in contention to become London Heathrow’s third runway!,” stated James Dillon-Godfray, the airport’s Head of Business Development, “but we are delighted to welcome this stunning commercial aircraft to Oxford.  It shows the extraordinary field performance of this family of jets.”

The twin engined, single aisle, fly by wire, state of the art Embraer E190-E2 with its high-aspect ratio wings, is the largest variant of Embraer’s family of upgraded E-Jets, delivering lower operating costs, significantly reduced emissions and noise levels.   The Pratt & Whitney PW1900G geared fan powered aircraft features Honeywell Primus Epic avionics and a new flight management system. 

This aircraft is configured in its maximum high density 146-seat layout.  Embraer also offers a three-class 120-seat version and a 132-seater version with a 31-inch seat pitch.  

 “Tech Lion” is the latest of the specially painted jets that form Embraer’s E2 demo series, which includes a tiger, an eagle, and a Great White shark. Kazakhstan’s Air Astana also showcases one of its E2 aircraft in honour of the endangered snow leopard.