The annual Sun ’n’ Fun event in Lakeland, Fla., is similar to the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture Oshkosh, with its emphasis on sport aviation and light aircraft, but (as at Oshkosh) a growing number of turboprop and jet manufacturers are exhibiting at the smaller show at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport. Perhaps they know future buyers often enter aviation at the small end of the scale, or maybe they know their competitors are there, too.
Making its second appearance at the event, held April 17 to 23, Embraer brought a mockup of the Phenom 300 fuselage. Company technicians have already begun cutting metal on the first Phenom 300, according to Ernest Edwards, vice president for executive jet sales and marketing for the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Orders for the Phenom 100 VLJ and the larger 300 now cover almost 400 aircraft, he added. The $2.85 million Phenom 100, with seats for six occupants, is expected to enter service in the middle of next year, followed by the nine-occupant $6.65 million Phenom 300 in mid-2009.
