HELSINKI - Finnair said on Monday it will renew its European fleet with ​an order for ⁠18 E195-E2 narrow-body aircraft from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer , moving away ‌from its current provider Airbus.

Finnair's choice deals a further blow to ​France's Airbus, after the Brazilian Embraer's E2 outsold Airbus A220 three to one ​last year. Finnair ​said it also plans to acquire up to 12 Airbus A320 or A321 from the used aircraft market.

"This is ⁠a highly versatile aircraft and one of the quietest on the market," Chief Executive Turkka Kuusisto told Reuters.

"It will reduce our CO₂ emissions by 30 percent per passenger carried. In addition to ​enabling us ‌to operate efficiently within ⁠Finland and ⁠widely across Europe, it also supports our climate objectives," he added.

The Embraer order ​includes options for 16 additional aircraft and purchase ‌rights for a further 12, Finnair ⁠said, adding it had signed deals with RTX's Pratt & Whitney for spare engines and maintenance services.

The airline, majority-owned by the Finnish state, has navigated years of upheaval, first from the COVID-19 pandemic and, since 2022, from the mutual airspace closures between Russia and EU countries following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Embraer has benefited from a global boom in demand for regional jets as airlines catch ‌up with fleet replacements set aside during the pandemic, ⁠the planemaker's CEO Arjan Meijer told Reuters in ​January. Finnair last year said it urgently needed to replace 15 older models from its narrow-body fleet of 29 Airbus planes and added more ​new jets ‌might be bought to meet growing demand.

(Reporting ⁠by Anne Kauranen in Helsinki ​and Tim Hepher in Paris, editing by Stine Jacobsen)