Twelve months ago, Embraer’s first “clean-sheet” business jet design — the Phenom 100 — had just completed its first test flights. What a difference 12 months can make! Today, the Phenom is just one of four … count them, four … “clean-sheet” Executive Jet designs in development at Embraer.
Currently, the Phenom 100 is finishing its certification/validation test flights, with certification and first deliveries expected — as scheduled — before the end of the year. Two prototypes of the 100’s bigger brother, the Phenom 300, have already flown, and the last of four Phenom 300 flight test prototypes is nearing completion, with certification for the 300 expected in the second half of 2009. Embraer plans to deliver 10 Phenom 100s before the end of this year, and the company says it’s still on track to meet its goal of producing between 120 to 150 Phenoms in 2009.
