Chinese regional carrier Hainan Airlines has halved its order for passenger jets from Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer, the Brazilian company said on May 5.

Hainan Airlines had cut to 25 its original order for 50 ERJ 145 jets made by Embraer's joint venture in China, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for Embraer told AFP.

Harbin Embraer Aircraft Industry Company, in which Embraer has a 49 percent stake and its Chinese partners own the remaining 51 percent, has delivered 12 ERJ 145 jets to Hainan Airlines, she said on condition of anonymity.

The order was part of a US$2.7 billion deal signed in 2006, under which Embraer would supply 50 of the 50-seat ERJ 145 and 50 of the 106-seat Embraer 190 to Hainan Airlines.

The deliveries of the ERJ 145 planes are now rescheduled for the first half of 2011 instead of the end of 2010, the spokeswoman said. She did not say whether the order for the Embraer 190 planes had been reduced.

Embraer announced in February that it would cut a fifth of its 21,000 workers because of the "unprecedented crisis hitting the world economy."

Photograph: An ERJ 145 aircraft operated by Grand China Express at Tianjin airport on Feb. 6, 2008. Photo by CARNOC.com message board member - skerry.