Turbine Intro: A light-turbine groundswell?

Melbourne Rollout

It’s time to fly, so the ground crew tows a Legacy 450 out of the Embraer hangar. Our photographer captures the moment from the hangar roof.

Where: Embraer’s ramp at the Orlando Melbourne International Airport, Melbourne, Florida.

Photographer: Chris Rose

In this issue of Turbine Pilot we cover Embraer’s latest business jet, the Legacy 450. Embraer says this jet falls into what it calls the “mid-light” category—meaning that it’s somewhere between a light and a mid-size jet. With this new entry, the company makes another step to fill in the product niches it first mapped out in 2005.

But at the upper end of its product range, more niches need to be filled. You’ll see vacancies between Embraer’s 3,900-nautical-mile, $31.6 million Legacy 650 and its flagship, the 4,600-nm, $53 million Lineage 1000E. If Embraer sticks to its plans to make a complete line of personal and corporate jets, at least two more big jets could be on the way. Trouble is, there’s plenty of competition in this segment.

At the other end of Embraer’s product spectrum, there are opportunities of a different sort. Sales of Phenom 300s have been on a roll. More than 330 Phenom 300s have been delivered since late 2009, making that airplane the “most delivered in its class,” according to officials. Meanwhile, sales of Phenom 100s and 100Es have been sagging. Maybe everyone who wanted one bought one.

Now there are rumors that Embraer is looking to build up its light, owner-flown fleet with what might be a complementary Phenom 100/100E model. Maybe a Phenom 200, with performance and price somewhere between the 100 and 300.

Embraer’s not the only manufacturer active in the light-turbine market. Deliveries of the HondaJet have begun. Work continues on Textron’s much-anticipated single-engine turboprop (SETP) (“Textron Details Single-Engine Turboprop,” p. 38). And Textron hints that it has even more irons in the fire. Then there is the Cirrus Vision SF50 single-engine jet, set to begin deliveries soon.

For all the persistent economic naysaying, it certainly looks like a busy year for the light, owner-flown turbine market.

—Thomas A. Horne, Turbine Pilot Editor