Embraer revealed further details of its entrants into the midsize jet market, the seven- to 12-passenger midsize jet (MSJ) and mid-light jet (MLJ) at a press event in Washington, D.C. yesterday evening. The MSJ and MLJ share a common fuselage cross-section with six-foot stand-up headroom, Honeywell HTF7500-E turbofans, Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics and Embraer’s first full closed-loop fly-by-wire flight control system. This commonality will help keep the cost of the program to $750 million during the next six years, according to Luis Carlos Affonso, executive vice president for executive jets. Embraer expects the FAA to grant a common pilot type rating for the MSJ and MLJ as it did for the company’s 170/190 airliner family. Embraer’s board of directors approved formal launch of the two-jet program on March 28.
In April 2005 Embraer announced plans “to invest heavily in business aviation. At that moment, the Legacy [600] was the only product,” said Affonso. A month later, Embraer launched the Phenom 100 and 300 models. The Phenom 100 is on schedule for certification and delivery this year, and the Phenom 300 is scheduled to make its first flight in the next month or two. At the top of the Embraer executive jet lineup is the commercial airline 190-derived Lineage 1000. Embraer has accepted more than 100 letters of intent for the MSJ and MLJ (secured by $90,000 and $70,000 deposits, respectively), but the company will wait to reveal the names and model designations and prices of the new jets until the EBACE show May 20 to 22 in Geneva, where it will begin taking orders for the MSJ and MLJ, he added.
More In Aircraft
