HELSINKI, March 23 (Reuters) - Finnair said

on Monday it will renew its European fleet with an order for 18

E195-E2 narrow-body aircraft from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer ( EMBJ )

, 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 ( EMBJ ) 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 ( EMBJ ) 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.