A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

Embraer has set a new backlog record high for its Executive Jets division. In its first-quarter delivery numbers released this week, the Brazil-based airframer reported that its business jet backlog rose to $7.6 billion, 3% higher than its previous record just established in the fourth quarter.
The company delivered 23 business jets in the first quarter—14 Phenoms light jets (two Phenom 100EXs and 12 Phenom 300s) and nine midsize Praetors (three Praetor 500s and six Praetor 600s). This was 28% higher than in the same period a year ago, reflecting continuing progress in the OEM’s plan to even out its deliveries throughout the year rather than backloading them to the fourth quarter.
Those 23 aircraft deliveries represent 15% of the 150-aircraft midpoint of Embraer’s anticipated 2025 delivery total (between 145 and 155 business jets), up from its average of 11% of its yearly deliveries in the first quarter for the past five years.
“Our&nbsp;production-leveling initiative, bolstered by the expansion of our industrial capacity, aligns well with Embraer Executive Jets’ market guidance for this year, and we’re very excited to see this increase of 28% in the first quarter customer deliveries,” said Michael Amalfitano, the division’s president and CEO.
In February, the Phenom 300 was announced as the most-delivered jet in its class for the 13th consecutive year, as well as the most-delivered twinjet for the fifth year in a row, according to statistics from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.

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