Embraer stands on the proud shoulders of Brazilian aviation pioneers whose work dates back to the early 18th Century and the dawn of powered flight. The father of Brazilian aviation, Alberto Santos-Dumont, is heralded as the first person to make a controlled flight in an engine-powered air vehicle, the Hydrogen Dirigible No. 1, in 1898. He later won the 1901 Deutsch de la Meurthe prize for piloting a dirigible around the Eiffel Tower for half an hour. In 1906, three years after the Wright brothers successfully flew in the United States, Santos-Dumont made his first public flight in a heavier-than-air aircraft known as the 14-bis, in Champs de Bagatelle, on the outskirts of Paris.

Following in Santos-Dumont’s footsteps, many other great aviation trailblazers and entrepreneurs led to the creation and success of Embraer including Air Force General Casimiro Montenegro Filho, who, in the mid-1940s, conceived and founded the Aeronautical Technical Center (Centro Técnico de Aeronáutica - CTA), today known as Department of Science and Aerospace Technology (Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Aeroespacial – DCTA), the national research center for aviation and space flight, and the Aeronautical Institute of Technology (Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica - ITA), inspired on Massachusetts Institute of  Technology (MIT), in Boston. His vision ushered in the development of Brazil’s modern aeronautics industry.

Among Embraer’s pioneers is Ozires Silva, a former major in the Brazilian Air Force, who founded Embraer in 1969 and led it as CEO until 1986 and again from 1991 to 1994. His successor, Mauricio Botelho, a dynamic entrepreneur, led the company after its privatization taking it public on both the São Paulo and New York Stock Exchanges in 2000. In 2007, he was succeeded by Frederico Fleury Curado, who, as CEO, has overseen one of the most successful and prosperous periods in the company’s history.

Embraer’s aviation roots are strong and deep. A leading force in aerospace technology and innovation, Embraer has delivered more than 5,000 executive, commercial and defense aircraft in its 40+ years which are now operating in over 90 countries.