Inside Virgin Australia’s new E190 ‘E-jet’

Australia’s newest domestic jet – the E190-E2 jet from Brazilian-based aerospace firm Embraer – has arrived down under, with passenger flights to begin from October. 

Virgin Australia has eight of these planes on order. This first – named Coral Bay – also happens to be the 1,900th delivery since the E-jet launched in 2004.

Three more will be handed over from later this year and through 2026, to replace the ageing Fokker 100s of Virgin’s Perth-based regional fleet.

Virgin Australia's new regional 'E-jet'.

Inside, things are instantly familiar, with the same look and feel as Virgin’s recently-refreshed interiors. However, there is one rather large difference: no middle seats.

In welcome news for comfort, the E190-E2’s economy cabin has just two seats on either side of the aisle, while some business class seats have no neighbour at all.

Virgin Australia's E190-E2 cabin includes eight business class seats.

Also making the journey more enjoyable are large overhead luggage bins and in-seat power.

Fast Wi-Fi, free in business class and for Velocity Platinum and Platinum Plus frequent flyers in economy, will be fitted from early 2026.

Virgin Australia's new regional 'E-jet'.

Having settled into Perth, the nimble jets will pull double-duty on both fly-in fly-out (FIFO) charter services to remote mining sites operated by resource giants such as BHP and Rio Tinto, and regular passenger flights to the likes of Broome, Darwin, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Kununurra, Newman, Onslow and Port Hedland.

The Coral Bay is expected to stretch its FIFO wings in late October, followed by passenger flights from mid-November.

Virgin Australia's new regional 'E-jet'.

And for Virgin, the E190-E2 is something of a “back to the future” moment.

As many Executive Traveller readers will remember, Virgin once flew the E190 on domestic hops such as Sydney-Canberra, until axing the fleet in 2018 to held reduce costs and improve its balance sheet at a time when Virgin was repeatedly racking up annual losses.

Inside the Virgin E190-E2

Virgin Australia has outfitted its Embraer E190-E2 jets with eight business class seats. and 92 seats in economy.

The business class seats look broadly similar to those on Virgin’s latest Boeing 737 MAX jets and the 737-800 refit.

For most people, the prize pick will be either of the two ‘solo’ business class seats to the left of the aisle.

Virgin Australia's E190-E2 cabin includes two solo business class seats.

Each business class passenger can plug their tech into an AC or  USB-C power outlet.

Every Virgin E190-E2 business class seat has AC and USB-C power.

However, it appears these jets won’t have the floor-mounted divider which separated the business and economy cabins on the original E190s.

Virgin Australia's original E190 cabin.

Even if you’re not in business class, then at least the following rows of 2-2 economy seating saves anybody being stuck in the middle. 

Virgin Australia's E190-E2 economy class.

This includes some extra-legroom Economy X rows, which passengers can book for an additional fee so they have more room to stretch out, as well as reserved space in the overhead bins for their carry-on bag.

Virgin Australia's E190-E2 economy class.

However, Virgin assures there’s enough room in the cabin for every passenger to have a bag in the overhead bin.

Virgin says its E190-E2s will have enough room in the overhead bins for every passenger to bring a cabin bag.

All economy seats have a USB-C power outlet, while flowing throughout the plane is high-speed WiFi – which will be free for business class passengers and Velocity Platinum members in economy, and comes with a price tag for everyone else.

And even for those who aren’t flying, the airline says the E2’s “lower noise profile is great news for communities surrounding the airport considering many of our departures are early in the morning.”