One of the main reasons why the CRJ900 would be passed up is because it tops out at 86 seats in all econ versus 100 for the 190. While I dunno I suspect that they binned the babybus and the 717 for being too heavy. Gonna find out how nice it is to fly (well a 170 anyway) next month.
Embraer weak hmm let's see...the company is certainly one of the largest if not THE largest export earner in Brazil (I believe EMB over took coffee a couple of years ago) so d'ya think its likely the Brazilain govt would ever let them go bust?...nah don't think so...
Second and as important the company is pretty successful - think of all those EMB120s they sold think of all those 145s they are still selling (700 delivered as of last week if you include 135s and 140s) and the the the big jungle jets they are selling in large numbers now... Oh yeah they are diversifiying in to military stuff (have for awhile anyway) and they are about to build a plant in FL for the mil 145 variants they are trying to flog to the US mil....and what's more they have an effective and charismatic leadership...nope looks like they will be around for awhile..