MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Boeing and Embraer sign agreement on safety, efficiency and productivity

Embraer president Frederico Curado and CEO Jim Albaugh following the meeting at the White House

US Boeing and Brazil’s Embraer signed an agreement Monday to work cooperatively on aircraft safety, operational efficiency and manufacturing productivity.

The broad agreement was signed in Washington, by Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO Jim Albaugh and Embraer president and CEO Frederico Curado after a meeting with the US and Brazilian presidents Barack Obama and Dilma Rousseff at the White House.

On the same day, Brazil and the US signed an aviation partnership memorandum of understanding (MOU) to expand cooperation between the two countries on civil aviation.

At a press briefing at the US Chamber of Commerce, Albaugh said the government aviation partnership agreement would cover areas such as environmental and regulatory issues as well as open skies.

The three focus areas for the Boeing-Embraer agreement would be airplane safety, efficiency of airliner operations and manufacturing productivity, Albaugh said. “There are real opportunities for each of our two companies to work together,” he said.

Curado said these were “first steps towards collaboration between Embraer and Boeing, starting with some research and technological work.”

The two manufacturers along with Airbus last month signed an MOU to work collaboratively on aviation bio-fuels research and development.