Today, Embraer is most famous for producing regional jets, which have taken the world by storm in recent decades. For the most part, this is thanks to the Embraer ERJ-135 and its longer cousin, the Embraer ERJ-145.
When the ERJ-135 was introduced, it was intended to be a low-cost alternative to the larger ERJ-145. However, once it was introduced, it soon proved to be much more than just a smaller ERJ-145, to become an invaluable aircraft in any airline’s fleet!
Pre-Embraer ERJ-135
When the first jet airliners were released in the 1950’s, such as the de Havilland Comet, Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8, they were mostly long-haul airliners used on high-demand transatlantic and transatlantic routes.
By the end of the 1950’s, jet engine technology had progressed enough that small jet airliners could be used on short-haul and regional routes. The late 1950’s and early 1960’s saw the introduction of the first regional jets.
Whilst these first regional jets, such as the BAC 1-11, Sud Aviation Caravelle and Fokker F28 were used by many of the largest airlines of its day, most airlines continued to use turboprop regional airliners, which were cheaper to acquire.
For Embraer at this time, they’d made their money producing such regional turboprops, namely the EMB 110 and EMB-120, which were both widely used by airlines all around the world, but especially North and South America.
By the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, the cost of oil had plummeted, this opened up the possibility for airlines to begin using small, relatively cheap regional jets on these routes.
As such, airlines began to demand a jet like this. In 1995, Embraer unveiled their ERJ-145 in 1997, which soon became quite popular, with both big and small airlines alike!
However, some airlines found that the ERJ-145, whilst among the smallest airliners of its day, was too big for many routes, leading to many airlines desiring a ERJ-145 derivative that was slightly shorter, to be used on these routes.
Development
Seeing this, Embraer announced that they’d begun development of two smaller derivatives of the ERJ-145. The first would be the shortest, marketed as the ERJ-135, whilst Embraer would also make a middle of the market jet known as the ERJ-140.
One of the major points for Embraer was to have a high percentage of part commonality between the three jets. Primarily, this was to keep all three aircraft on the same type rating, which would allow pilots to fly all three jets without needing any extra training.
However, this was also done with maintenance crews in mind too. Higher part commonality between the three jets would make it easier and cheaper for airlines to maintain their ERJ fleet, thus making the jet more appealing to small airlines.
Initially, Embraer would focus heavily on the ERJ-140, as this required far more work from an engineering standpoint (for instance, engineers had to find a less powerful engine, whilst extending the range and shortening the fuselage).
Building off the work laid down on the ERJ-140, Embraer engineers would work on shortening the fuselage by a further 2.12 meters (6 ft 11 in), or a fuselage that was 3.54 meters (11 ft 7 in) shorter than the ERJ-145’s.
Owing to the ERJ-135 and ERJ-140 having the same type rating as the ERJ-145, flight testing for the ERJ-135 was limited, reduced to only a few test flights performed by Embraer themselves.
After testing, Embraer would spend the next several months marketing the Embraer ERJ-135 and ERJ-140 much more vigorously than they’d done with the ERJ-145, in particular flying it at many more airshows, where it often impressed the crowd!
Operational History
Following this, the first ERJ-135s rolled off the assembly line in late 1998, before entering service in early 1999. From here, the Embraer ERJ-135 would go on to have a rather interesting service life, one that’s still happening today!
Airlines
The first operators of the ERJ-135 would be airlines, who’d use the jet on short-haul routes just as they did with the ERJ-145, albeit it on short-haul routes with slightly less demand.
Most of the airlines who operated the Embraer ERJ-135 were small regional airlines who operated an all-ERJ-135 fleet. Many more operators of the ERJ-135 were commuter/feeder airlines, who fed into much larger airlines.
Whilst it was most popular in North America (mainly the United States) the ERJ-135 was also quote popular in Europe too, where it often serves under the regional airline subsidiary of major European airlines.
Surprisingly, the Embraer ERJ-135 has also become quite popular as an island-hopping aircraft used by airlines on archipelagos (a role traditionally given to piston and turboprop airliners rather than jets).
This is mostly thanks to the ERJ-135’s uncanny ability to land on incredibly short runways, as well as loading and deplaning much faster than many piston and turboprop airliners can!
With that being said, recent years have seen the introduction of the E-Jet and E-Jet E2 families which have made the ERJ family as a whole, become irrelevant. As such, many US-based airlines have begun to retire their ERJ-135s in favor of newer E-170s and E-175s.
Many of these Embraer ERJ-135s have then been bought by smaller airlines, who can afford to pay higher fuel prices per seat than the E-Jet and E-Jet E2 families due to the fact these airlines can acquire the jets at a vastly reduced rate.
Private Jet
The last 20 years or so have seen a huge increase in the number of private jets in our skies. 20 years ago, private jets were incredibly rare, whilst now there are much more common…
In the 2000’s, airlines started to increase prices for business and first class tickets on its highest demand routes by ridiculous percentages. As such, many VIPs decided to trade in business and first class for their own jet.
However, there was one problem: there weren’t enough jets to satisfy demand.
Seeing this, Embraer (alongside most other major aircraft manufacturers) began to offer business jet derivatives of their most successful jet airliners. For Embraer, they began offering their ERJ-135s and ERJ-145s.
Initially, Embraer would only offer a business jet version of the ERJ-135, known officially as the ERJ-135BJ, but more commonly known as the Embraer Legacy 600. The Legacy 600 would first enter service in February 2002.
The main differences between the Legacy 600 and ERJ-135 (besides the different interiors!) was that the Legacy 600 had an extra fuel tank as well as winglets that come as standard.
Sadly, Embraer ended production of the Legacy 600 in mid-2020, however before that, you could pick a brand new Legacy 600 up for $25 million. Assuming you had the money, you could pick up a used one for around $7 million!
This in part to its price, but also its luxuriousness and incredibly cheap operating costs (for a jet of its size), the Legacy 600 has proven to be one of the most popular business jets of recent years.
Charter
Owing in large part to the Embraer ERJ-135’s success as a commercial airliner, most retired ERJ-135s aren’t going to aircraft graveyards, but rather, charter airlines.
Here, these charter airlines offer the ERJ-135 to private individuals, often corporations, where it is marketed as the more efficient way to transport a large number of people (often employees) on short-haul journeys.
Alternatively, many of these charter airlines also market the jet as a way for companies to transport a mixture of high-value cargo and people at a more affordable price than doing it with a private jet and with more security than flying commercial.
Assuming you had the money and the need to, you could also charter an ERJ-135 derived Legacy 600 private jet, for either personal or corporate use.
Whilst the cost to charter any aircraft will differ based a number of factors, such as time of year, route and charter airline, you can currently charter a former airline Embraer ERJ-135 for around $5,900 per hour on many routes.
By comparison, you can charter an ERJ-135 derived Legacy 600 for roughly $6,100 per hour (although some routes will be more. The difference in price is mostly due to the higher quality of service you should receive on the Legacy 600 (compared to the ERJ-135).
Government VIP Transport
However, it hasn’t just been airlines and the 1% that have seen the versatility of the ERJ-135, so have governments. Whilst the ERJ-145 has proven to be adept at being a AEW&C aircraft, the ERJ-135 has proven to be a great VIP transport.
As of the time of writing, several countries have used the ERJ-135 as a VIP transport for their country’s political and military leadership. This is mostly thanks to the ERJ-135’s lower operational costs compared to the ERJ-145.
By far the most famous government operator of the Embraer ERJ-135 was the Belgian Air Component (Belgian Air Force) who operated two ERJ-135s, one for VIP transport, and the other for passenger transport, between 2002 and 2020.
For 18 years, Belgium’s VIP ERJ-135, would transport members of the Belgian royal family, as well as government leaders. Most often, this was on short-haul routes, whilst the country’s Dassault Falcon 900 and Airbus A321 would fly long-haul routes.
For Belgium’s other ERJ-135, it would act as a military transport. In this capacity, it would be configured much like an airline ERJ-135 would be, being able to carry almost 40 soldiers, usually mid-ranking officers.
Today, the only other major operator of the ERJ-135 is the Indian government, who currently operate three ERJ-135s as short-haul VIP transports, mostly for the political leaders of India, but also occasionally the military leaders too!
Specifications
Due to being developed from the ERJ-145, simply as a shorter variant of the jet, the Embraer ERJ-135 and ERJ-140 also have the exact same specs as one another.
However, in light of their different lengths, one or two of their specs are slightly different, mostly due to the differing weights that each aircraft has…
| Specifications | Embraer ERJ-135LR |
|---|---|
| Length | 86 ft 5 in (26.33 m) |
| Wingspan | 65 ft 9 in (20.04 m) |
| Height | 22 ft 2 in (6.76 m) |
| Crew | 3 (two pilots and one cabin crew) |
| Passengers | 37 |
| Cruise Speed | 0.8 Mach (854 km/h; 614 mph; 461 kn) |
| Range | 3,240 km (2,013 mi; 1,750 nmi) |
| Service Ceiling | 37,000 ft (11,278 m) |
| MTOW | 44,092 lb (20,000 kg) |
How Safe is The Embraer ERJ-135?
In recent years, we have seen short-haul airliners make the news on several occasions due to high-profile crashes. Granted, many of these have been airliners built by different companies, but it does make you wonder…
Luckily, the ERJ-135 is considered by many to be one of the safest airliners you could ever fly on! In over 20 years of service (and counting!) the Embraer ERJ-135 has never recorded a single fatality, much like the rest of the ERJ family.
When it comes to aviation safety, one of the best indicators of how safe an aircraft is, is how many fatalities it has had per thousand passengers flown. For the ERJ-135, it is zero. As such, the chances of you being in a fatal crash in an ERJ-135 are pretty slim to say the least.
However, this does not mean that the ERJ-135 is free from aviation-related incidents by any means. It just means that none of them have resulted in serious injuries or fatalities…
As of the time of writing, the ERJ-135 has only been involved in three accidents, all of which resulted in no physical injuries. On top of this, these incidents didn’t cause the aircraft to be written off, with them having only minor damage.
According to the accident reports, these accidents were a mixture of bad weather and pilot error caused by the pilots being unfamiliar with the ERJ-135. Both of these can be mitigated today, as most ERJ-135 crews have been flying the jet for well over two decades!
How Successful Was The Embraer ERJ-135?
For Embraer, the ERJ-145 was its most successful commercial airliner Embraer had ever produced. When they released the ERJ-135, Embraer had similarly hoped that the ERJ-135 would be as successful, if not more so, than the ERJ-145.
If you were to ask Embraer, the ERJ-135 was a success. Over the course of 22 years, Embraer received orders for (and delivered) 282 ERJ-135s (not including orders for the ERJ-135 derived Legacy 600), making Embraer a sizable profit!
According to Embraer, development of the Embraer ERJ-135 cost roughly $50 million (although some estimate it was slightly less). Embraer sold the jets for $16.5 million a piece, earning Embraer a little less than $4.65 billion.
By comparison, this is larger profit margin than what Boeing made on its famous Boeing 747 family!
For the most part, the ERJ-135 was successful due to its technical specs and pricing. When you compare it to the Bombardier CRJ100 it competed with, the ERJ-135 not only has better specs, but was also much cheaper.
Although, there was a longer waiting list for the ERJ-135, many airlines were willing to wait this extra time in order to get a cheaper, and superior aircraft!
However, whilst the ERJ-135 was good for Embraer’s bottom line, the ERJ-135 didn’t live up to Embraer’s initial expectations. Over the course of its production, the ERJ-145 was built and sold 740 times, almost three times as many as the ERJ-135!
Thankfully, whilst it didn’t live up to these expectations, the Embraer ERJ-135 didn’t perform as poorly as the Embraer ERJ-140, which only sold 209 copies over a 22 years period.
Legacy
Despite not being as successful as the Embraer ERJ-145, the ERJ-135 has arguably left as big an impact on the aviation industry as the the ERJ-145!
Much like the ERJ-145, the ERJ-135 is still making its history, although, just like ERJ-145, the ERJ-135 is coming to the end of its service life.
Embraer
Prior to introducing the ERJ family, Embraer were very much the joke of the aviation community. Yes, they produced aircraft that airlines needed, but they were often some of the worst aircraft in their class, both in terms of specs and passenger comfort!
With the introduction of the ERJ-145, Embraer began to shatter this belief, however, many airlines still chocked it up to beginner’s luck, and that they were one of only a few companies that were producing the jets airlines needed.
However, the introduction of the equally as versatile ERJ-135, proved to the naysayers that the ERJ-145’s success wasn’t just a fluke, but because the jet was actually good, and what airlines actually wanted!
In turn, this led to Embraer as a company being held in the same regard as Bombardier, Airbus and Boeing, otherwise known as the “Big four aircraft manufacturers”.
This has undoubtedly helped to sell many more Embraer ERJ-135s, as well as newer aircraft like the E-Jet and E-Jet E2 family!
Embraer ERJ-135
Surprisingly, the ERJ-135 is surprisingly active. Whilst it is being retired from service with many airlines, many ERJ-135s are finding second service lives with either smaller airlines or with charter airlines.
Due to this, whilst once commonplace at regional US airports, they have now become somewhat of a rarity, instead replaced with airliners like the E-170 and E-175, which have become commonplace instead.
It’s probably not surprising, but almost all Embraer ERJ-135 derived Legacy 600 business jets are still in service.
Whilst the ERJ-135 is too old for airlines to operate, the modifications made on the Legacy 600 have ensured that they’ll be fuel efficient enough for VIPs to operate for the foreseeable future!
Thanks to this, a number of third-party companies are currently offering to convert former ERJ-135s airliners into business jets, with the exact same modifications as the Legacy 600. As of the time of writing, there are currently no jets with these modifications…
Future Aircraft
Despite the middling success of the ERJ-135, the concept of having a family of regional jets which were just longer/shorter variants of the same jet, was instrumental for both Embraer and Bombardier.
For Embraer, they would introduce the ERJ family’s successor, the E-Jet family, in 2004. As of the time of writing, the E-Jet family is comprised of four jets, the E-170, E-175, E-190 and E-195.
In 2018, Embraer would similarly introduce the E-Jet E2 family, which is meant to replace the E-Jet family. Just as with the ERJ family, the E-Jet E2 family is made up of three jets, the E175-E2, E190-E2 and E190-E2.
Seeing this, Bombardier would release the CRJ200 to compliment the CRJ100. Bombardier would then release the CRJ 700/900/1000 which were partly inspired by the three-jet layout of the ERJ family it competed with!
What do you think of the Embraer ERJ-135? Have you ever flown on it? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Pat Bell via Flickr.