One of the competitors in question is Embraer (EMBJ), when it took the unexpected step of giving the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro a holographic jersey with the Embraer logo on it. This move was apparently not controversial, as it was blessed by a local priest. Now, Embraer is looking to step things up, and move into Boeing’s territory formally by building narrow-body jets.
Embraer has considered such a move before, but it is likely the sheer size of the two main companies’ bottlenecks that is forcing it to reconsider. Carriers from all over have reportedly been contacting Embraer, hoping to get it into the field to shorten the delivery times from their current “eventually” to something more concrete. This could be a problem for Boeing, but reasonably, even if Embraer managed to match Boeing for production, the worst it would likely do is cut Boeing’s backorder from several thousand planes to a couple thousand and change.
And Then There’s JetZero
While Boeing may not have had much to worry about from Embraer, another planemaker, private company JetZero, is also looking to step in. JetZero reportedly broke ground on its first full aircraft factory to start up in Greensboro, North Carolina. Reports noted that the new factory is about twice the size of Boeing’s Everett plant, and will produce the Z4 blended-wing aircraft.
