AIDC Delivers First Shroud Panel Set for ERJ 190 Jet

Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC), the largest aerospace company in Taiwan, recently held a ceremony to celebrate the delivery of its first shroud panel (including both the flap and aileron) for Embraer's ERJ 190 regional jet to Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), a Japanese subcontractor of the ERJ 190 program.

The ceremony was hosted at the Taiwan Advanced Composite Centre (TACC), which designs, develops and manufactures composite parts for aircraft manufacturers, at AIDC's plant complex in central Taiwan's Taichung. Yoshihiro Uetake, general manager of the Production Division at KHI, attended the event. The shroud panel will be delivered to KHI and then to Brazil's Embraer for final assembly.

The Embraer 190/195 is a narrow-body medium-range twin-engine jetliner. The aircraft was announced during the Paris Air Show in 1999 and Embraer kicked off mass production of the model in 2002. ERJ 190/195's first flight was in March 2004. Embraer has received firm orders for several hundreds of the aircraft.

ERJ 190's shroud panel sets were originally produced by KHI. The Japanese company decided to commission AIDC to supply the key parts in 2012. During his speech at the delivery ceremony, Uetake expressed praised AIDC for its high product quality, on-time delivery, and strong composite manufacturing capability. He also said that the partnership between KHI and AIDC has helped parties to achieve the critical goals of the supply program.

Embraer's ERJ family is a popular airliner series in the global aircraft market. AIDC and KHI announced that they expect deliver over 250 sets for this program under a five-year agreement. In addition, the successful delivery of the first shroud panel to KHI is expected to help AIDC tap other opportunities to supply advanced composite-material parts to the Japanese partner in the future.