The E195's official designation is E190-200. Maybe that is the reason, because Eastern also uses the somewhat uncommon designation E170-100LR in its press release for the E170 (the E175 officially is the E170-200).

What I find strange in that press release is the mentioning of ABZ - NWI which they no longer operate :ugh:

I can assure you now - Eastern have no desire to be operating the E-Jets on short hops. They're going after a different market it seems.

This is definitely sensible and good news!

Do we have any clue what this maybe? Could Spanish bucket and spade routes be really on the cards?

I have read this article however, I was more interested in the source of the reports that Cautious Optimist referee to in there post. As haven’t heard or read anywhere that the aircraft are ex BE.

The original press release states:

“Both the Embraer 170 and 190 have the ability of offering steep approaches to restricted airports, good short-field performance and long-range operations making them one of the most flexible aircraft in the up to 100-seat market”

The E170 fulfils all the criteria listed above, However I believe the E195’s are fitted with more than 100 seats and I am not sure if they have the steep approach capabilities mentioned in the original press release.

The Embraer 195 definitely cannot operate into LCY.

Maybe somebody with company inside information will be able to furnish some more news on where the 170/190's are going to operate and be based at.

Talk of the 170 being parked at MME when not doing charter work, not sure how true that is

EMB 195
 

Maybe they are going to use these exFlybe machines on the summer sun routes out of Southampton, which Flybe have abandoned.

Don’t think so, would have been announced by now for S20!

Just out of interest, does anybody know what the load factors were when Flybe flew out of Norwich to Alicante and Malaga?

Has anything been discussed about what would happen to Eastern’s operations if Flybe ceased trading?

Whatever they are, they are largely immaterial to whether the routes were a success financially. Sell 100 seats at £10 each and you've got £1000 revenue, sell the same 100 seats at £100 and you've got £10000. It's the revenue that counts, not the load factor.

It would be surprising with such a scenario and it's effect on Eastern had not been discussed by Eastern's management. I suppose it's just conceivable that the addition of three E190 / E195 (delete which not applicable) may be some sort of contingency since they apparently don't have any concrete work for them, at least so far as has been publicly announced.

That is interesting.

I believe Eastern don’t directly sell anymore, so if Flybe went, how would Eastern be able to sell capacity on their flights? Presumably, they would have to resurrect their own sales side? Clearly I am thinking of the MME operation which will soon have a very big Eastern presence (sold through Flybe).

If they cherry picked the profitable routes and ignored the chaff I would have thought setting a new independent reservations / sales operation may be a small price to pay. The trick would be to not pick up any of the more marginal routes, and given that my hypothesis involves taking on E-jets, then thin routes would also be a no no.

Don't begin to know how they perform financially with Flybe, but I would imagine the likes of BHX and SOU to GLA / EDI may be interesting, also perhaps routes like BHX and MAN to Milan and Stuttgart could prove viable provided the leasing costs on the 190/195s were a better deal than the one that Flybe got themselves into.

Word on the street is that the Embraer 190s are an aspiration and a long way off becoming a reality. Most of the discussions above could appear to be just as speculative.

The 170 is the aircraft they originally had in their fleet.

According to Jethros the 3 x 190s have been acquired by Eastern with no in service dates. On an unrelated matter Flybe return their next 195 to the lessor tomorrow, the one after that on 13 Mar and the next one on 18Apr....

Before some get carried away - in this month's Airliner World, the news item on Eastern's plan to acquire E190s has the information that the aircraft are intended to strengthen the airline's charter operation.