Embraer's commercial aviation revenue falls by 82%

By Marcelo Rochabrun

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's Embraer said on Wednesday that revenue at its commercial aviation segment, usually its largest and most profitable, had fallen by 82% to $109 million in the second quarter because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Embraer, in common with its larger planemaker rivals Airbus and Boeing, has seen demand collapse as the pandemic paralysed air travel.

The world's No. 3 planemaker reported a net loss of $315 million in the quarter. Much of that loss, executives said in a conference call, was because of one-off expenses and it said results for future quarters should not be as negative.

Embraer said that up to 50% of its aircraft orders have been deferred to 2022. It said it had not received cancellations in the all-important commercial segment, but cautioned that long deferrals will make 2021 difficult.

To compensate for the deferrals, the company said it has launched sales campaigns to secure aircraft deliveries in the shorter term, although it did not announce any new firm orders.

(Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; editing by Louise Heavens and Barbara Lewis)