Embraer surprised the press gathered at the European Business Aviation Conference (EBACE) in Geneva in May when it announced that it will conduct final assembly of some of its new Phenom 100 and 300 light jets in Melbourne, Florida. Before the announcement the company had said it would deliver the new jets only at its facilities in Brazil.
The new assembly and completion operation is expected to be up and running by 2011. Major subassemblies of the airframe will be sent from Brazil to Florida by ship. Final assembly, painting, interior completion, production test flying and finally delivery will take place at a new $50 million facility being built on the Melbourne Airport. Embraer will also construct a design center where customers for many of the company’s business jet models can view available interior options and paint schemes to make their selections.
