License-built Pipers
In 1974 the
company started to produce Piper
Aircraft light planes under license.
Piper first put together knock-down
kits in their US factory for Embraer
to assemble & market in Brazil &
Latin America, but by 1978 most of
the parts and components were being
sourced locally. Between 1974
and 2000 nearly 2500 license-built
Pipers were produced by Embraer.
Privatization
Born
from a Brazilian government plan and
having been state-run from the
beginning,
Embraer began a privatization
process
alongside many other
state-controlled companies during
the government of Fernando Henrique
Cardoso.
This
privatization effort saw Embraer
sold on December 7, 1994,
and helped it avoid a looming
bankruptcy.
The company continued to win
government contracts.
The
Brazilian government retains
interest through possession of
golden shares, which allow it veto
power.
Initial public offerings
In
2000 Embraer made simultaneous
initial public offerings on the NYSE
and BM&F Bovespa stock exchanges.
As of 2008 its NYSE-traded shares
were American Depositary Receipts
representing 4 BM&F Bovespa shares.
Current ownership
As of
2008[update]
ownership was: Bozano Group 11.10%,
Previ (a Brazilian pension fund)
16.40%, Sistel 7.40%, Dassault
Aviation 2.1%, EADS 2.1%, Thales
2.1%, Safran 1.1%, Government of
Brazil 0.3%, the remainder being
publicly traded.
Product line expansion: military,
regional & executive
In the
mid-1990s the company pursued a
product line more focused on small
commercial planes than the military
aircraft that had prior made up the
majority of its manufacturing.
Larger regional airliners with
70-110 seats and smaller business
jets soon followed. Today the
company makes for both defense and
commerce.
Military transport
On
April 19, 2007, Embraer announced it
was considering the production of a
twin-jet military transport, the
Embraer KC-390. Work actually began
in May 2009 with funding from the
Brazilian Air Force.
Correios,
the Brazilian postal service, has
shown interest in buying this
aircraft, in lieu of using
commercial freight service for mail
transport.
Using many of the technologies
developed for the Embraer 190, the
C-390 would carry up to 23 tons of
cargo, and was aimed at replacing
Cold War-era cargo aircraft.
While
firm orders for this
yet-to-be-produced hauler do not
exist,
Argentina has asked for six examples
and several South American nations
have also expressed interest.
Government subsidy controversy
Brazil and
Canada engaged in an international,
adjudicated trade dispute over
government subsidies to domestic
plane-makers in the late 1990s and
early 2000s. The World Trade
Organization decided Brazil ran an
illegal subsidy program, Proex,
benefiting its national aviation
industry from at least 1999-2000,
and that Canada illegally subsidized
its indigenous regional airliner
industry, comprising Bombardier
Aerospace.
Production
bases and facilities
The
company's headquarters and a
production base are in São José dos
Campos, São Paulo, Brazil. It also
has production bases in the State of
São Paulo at Botucatu, Eugênio de
Melo (a district of São José dos
Campos) and Gavião Peixoto.
It may have other production bases
as well. The company has offices in
Beijing,
Fort
Lauderdale (US),
Paris,
Singapore,
and Washington DC (US).
Source:
Wikipedia
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