Embraer is at MEBA celebrating that more of its Phenom 100 very light jets are likely to be delivered this year than any other business jet type.
The Brazilian manufacturer's achievement is all the more impressive considering it entered the business aviation market only at the beginning of the century, with its regional jet-derived Legacy 600, and has launched six aircraft since 2005. In the VLJ market it has beaten Cessna's Mustang in terms of sales and seen off the Eclipse 500 among others.
However, it is at the top end of its range that Embraer is staking its hopes for the Middle East. The company is showing its ultra-large Lineage 1000 and its Legacy 650 at MEBA. Large jets appeal to the market here because customers use them for both long-range and regional travel, says its vice-president market intelligence executive jets Cláudio Galdo Camelier.
"This is a region where the focus is on larger-cabin aircraft," he says. "Customers like them because they tend to travel with lots of baggage and entourages."
Although affected by the global financial crisis, the Middle East market has rebounded much quicker than North America or Europe, he says.
"In the Middle East we are forecasting deliveries of 300 aircraft [across all makes] in the next 10 years, an almost doubling of the existing fleet of 350 aircraft. We think Embraer can win a large share of these deliveries."
The Lineage, he says, has the same price as competitors such as the Gulfstream G550, Dassault Falcon 7X and Bombardier Global Express, but has "twice the cabin area". Of the six Lineages shipped this year, four have been to Middle Eastern customers, says Camelier. The first Legacy 650 to be delivered to the Middle East will arrive by the end of the year.
Embraer will also exhibit at MEBA its Phenom 300 light jet - it expects to make its first Middle East delivery this month.
Source: Flight Daily News
