EMBRAER ANNOUNCED at the 2018 European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE 2018) in Geneva in late May that its Legacy family of business aircraft had notched up several milestones.
On May 30, 2018, the Brazilian manufacturer announced its Legacy 450 medium-cabin business aircraft had achieved a new speed record on a recent flight between Portland, Maine, and Farnborough in the UK.
On March 7, 2018, a Legacy 450 with two pilots and two passengers aboard covered the 2,756 nautical miles (5,105km) between Portland International Jetport and Farnborough in six hours and five minutes, with an average speed of 521.89mph (840km/h). Embraer said the flight, which has been verified by the US National Aeronautic Association, landed with fuel reserves in excess of those required for the National Business Aviation Association’s IFR range requirements.
Embraer also announced at EBACE 2018 that it has sold a pre-owned Legacy 500 mediumcabin aircraft to Centreline, a fullservice private jet company based in the UK. Centreline currently operates two Legacy 500s and this latest aircraft will be delivered in August 2018.
The aircraft is fitted with the Legacy 500’s premium cabin layout, with a berthing divan and six lie-flat club seats.
Captain James Pyne, Centreline’s Flight Operations Manager, said: “I am thrilled to grow our fleet with another Legacy 500, whose interior design and very quiet cabin wows our customers. We always receive positive feedback from customers and the aircraft’s astounding runway performance gets our passengers conveniently closer to each of their destinations.”
In other Legacy 450/500 news from EBACE 2018, Embraer announced on May 29, 2018, that it has selected Viasat to provide Ka-band wireless connectivity on the two aircraft designs, with the product to be available from the second quarter of 2019 for new aircraft. The feature will also be available for retrofit to existing aircraft in a similar timeframe.
Finally from EBACE 2018, Embraer announced on May 29, 2018, that it has sold four more Legacy 650E aircraft to Germany’s Air Hamburg. The additional aircraft will take Air Hamburg’s fleet of Embraer business aircraft to 17, comprising 15 Legacy 600/650s and two Phenom 300 aircraft. Contract value, based on current list prices, is estimated to be $103.6 million and delivery of the first new aircraft is expected to commence in the second quarter of 2018, followed by further aircraft each quarter through to Q1 2019.
Michael Amalfitano, President and CEO of Embraer Executive Jets, said: “As the global launch customer of the Legacy 650E, Air Hamburg has proven the success of the aircraft in delivering a superior customer experience.”
Simon Ebert, owner of Air Hamburg, added: “With this additional order, we are eager to grow our Embraer fleet by 30% to meet global market demand for these popular aircraft.”
The Legacy 600/650/650E series has recorded sales of over 260 aircraft worldwide and is based on the Embraer ERJ-135/ERJ-145 family of regional aircraft, which has accumulated in excess of 25 million flight hours, according to the manufacturer.
Nigel Pittaway
