Brazil's jet maker Embraer now has its sights set on Africa.
The company, which in the past couple of years focused mostly on Asian markets, plans to double the number of its jets operating on the African continent from the current 150, Reuters reported.
Mathieu Duquesnoy, Embraer's vice president, told reporters in Nairobi, where the company host an event earlier this week, the company is looking for opportunities in the region's fast-growing aviation industry.
"If you look at passenger demand, we see an average growth of 5.4 per cent (in Africa) one of the highest we predict around the world," Reuters quoted Duquesnoy as saying.
According to the report, Embraer wants to boost order books in the regional aircraft niche, which accounts for almost 40 per cent of the company's total customer base.
Duquesnoy said the company's 30-120 seaters are particularly suited to African airlines, but the greatest growth potential in the continent lies in the 90-120 seater market segment. He told Reuters Egyptair, Air Nigeria, Mozambique's LAM and Kenya Airways, already fly its planes.
The vice-president estimated that there will be 800 more airplanes in the next 20 years in Africa, of any type.
Source: FMTilt, Reuters
