The company, the world's largest maker of regional jets, broke a yearlong drought of big airline orders with a deal for 15 E-190 and five E-175 planes in the fourth quarter. The announcement in a securities filing raised hopes that Embraer can keep up production levels in 2013.

Shares of Embraer rose 3 percent in Sao Paulo, their biggest intraday rise in nearly a month, helping the stock recover after a year when the planemaker lost its sales lead to Canadian rival Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO).

The company's order backlog, a pipeline of future revenue, grew to $12.5 billion at the end of December. Three months earlier, the backlog fell to $12.4 billion, its lowest level in more than six years, raising concerns that Embraer might have to cut output this year.

Embraer has said it is counting on orders early in 2013 to fill open production slots for the end of the year.

Orders from major U.S. carriers such as AMR Corp's (AAMRQ.PK) American Airlines could rebuild Embraer's backlog this year and next, Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva, the company's head of commercial aviation, said last month.

But Bombardier won the first big contest in the race to revamp the U.S. regional fleet, with an order in December for up to 70 CRJ900 jets from Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N).

PRODUCTION TARGETS

A fourth-quarter flood of private jet deliveries helped Embraer meet its 2012 production targets, the company reported on Monday.

The 53 executive jets Embraer delivered in the quarter even outpaced its 50 deliveries a year earlier, after a tsunami in Japan had disrupted supply chains the previous spring. But deliveries of commercial jets in the last three months of 2012 fell to 23 planes from 32 a year earlier.

In the full year, Embraer delivered 106 commercial aircraft, one more than in 2011, and 99 executive jets, in line with the year before. In February, the company forecast deliveries of 105 to 110 jets to airlines and 90 to 105 private planes.

Smaller, less-expensive aircraft accounted for a greater number of Embraer's 2012 commercial jet deliveries than in 2011. But in the executive jet segment, the company boosted deliveries of more-profitable large jets to 22 aircraft, beating its target of 15 to 20 such planes.

Embraer added a net 42 new orders for its regional E-Jets in 2012, falling far short of its goal to book a new order for each commercial jet it delivered.

Sales also lagged those of Bombardier, which booked more than 90 regional jet orders last year. In recent years, the Canadian planemaker has delivered about half as many planes as Embraer in the 70-to-120-seat segment.

Also in the fourth quarter, Embraer's backlog benefited from a border-monitoring contract with Brazil's armed forces signed in November for more than $400 million. The company does not separately disclose quarterly order and delivery performance for military aircraft. (Reporting by Brad Haynes; Additional reporting by Roberta Vilas Boas, Alberto Alerigi Jr. and Asher Levine; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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