It initially focused on supplying military aircraft to the Brazilian Air Force, but by the 1980s began producing a series of successful commuter and regional airliners for export.

Embraer has divisions for commercial, executive, military, and agricultural aviation; it also maintains an incubator for aerospace technologies and businesses.

While the company continues producing aircraft for the defense sector, it is best known for the ERJ and E-Jet families of narrow-body short to medium range airliners, and for its line of business jets, including the market-leading Phenom 300.

[12][13] Its first president, Ozires Silva, was a government appointee, and the company initially only produced a turboprop passenger aircraft, the Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante.

[21] Aerotec S/A Indústria Aeronáutica was a design and manufacturing company founded in São José dos Campos in 1962 under the auspices of the Brazilian General Command for Aerospace Technology.

[citation needed] In 2000, Embraer made simultaneous initial public offerings on the NYSE and BM&F Bovespa stock exchanges.

[20] By May 2019, Embraer considered developing a new family of turboprop regional airliners in the 50–70 seat range, complementing the E-Jet E2, so as to free engineering resources.

[27] In August 2021, Embraer released a new configuration with quieter aft-mounted engines for a 70-90 seat aircraft, with the E-Jet cross-section, aiming for a 2022 launch and a 2027/2028 service entry.

[35] While firm orders for the yet-to-be-produced KC-390 transport had not yet been made in the fall of 2010,[31] Argentina asked for six examples and several other South American nations also expressed interest.

[36][37] Brazil and Canada engaged in an international, adjudicated trade dispute over government subsidies to domestic plane-makers in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The World Trade Organization determined that both countries had provided illegal subsidies to what were supposed to be privately owned industries.

[42] In April 2020, Boeing canceled its acquisition of Embraer's commercial operations after being heavily affected financially by the air crisis initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic and by the 737 MAX groundings.

[43][44][45] In November 2020, Embraer announced that its loss for the third quarter of the year is $121 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions.

[46] In December 2019, Embraer and the Brazilian Air Force tackled the development of a light military transport aircraft.

The company has offices in Beijing, Fort Lauderdale, Amsterdam, Singapore, and Washington, D.C.[54] By December 2018, Embraer claimed to lead the sub 150 seat jetliner market with 100 operators of the ERJ and E-Jet families.