Although it was founded 50 years ago, Embraer is a relatively new company in the business jet segment. Its first executive aircraft, the Legacy, came from an adaptation of the ERJ regional jet in the early 2000s. The first fully developed model, the Phenom 100, only went live in 2008, shortly before the big brother Phenom 300.
For that reason, the fact that the Phenom 300 has hit the 500-unit milestone delivered is impressive. According to GAMA, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, the Embraer jet is the only one to achieve this in the last 10 years.
“The Phenom 300 has fascinated customers since it entered the market and its tremendous popularity only challenges us to continue to deliver the ultimate customer experience,” said Michael Amalfitano, President & CEO, Embraer Executive Jets. “Phenom 100 customer with prior fractional ownership experience further validates the true innovation that the Phenom 300 delivers to private owners, corporations and operators in the Access Economy. ”
The 500th airplane, a Phenom 300E, was delivered to businessman Freeman Pickett III in Melbourne, Fla., Where Embraer’s Customer Center is. The executive, who already owns a Phenom 100, underscored the qualities of the aircraft: “The Phenom 100 served us well throughout the Midwest, but we began to fly farther, with more passengers and destinations farther away, we began to use the Phenom 300 to which we had access,” he said.
According to Embraer, “the aircraft is in operation in more than 30 countries, having accumulated more than 800,000 flight hours over 600,000 flights over the past decade, carrying almost 2.5 million passengers over a distance that circles the earth 13 times, equivalent to a round trip to Mars.”
Drop in deliveries
Despite the milestone, Embraer has presented weak delivery results in recent months. The manufacturer closed 2018 with 91 deliveries of executive jets versus 109 in 2017. Among the light jets, the reduction was lower, from 72 to 64 aircraft.
