Embraer Executive Jets is in “harvest season” as it gains momentum from the series of updates to its existing product line, accord to company president and CEO Michael Amalfitano.
Addressing rumors about what airplane might be next in its lineup, and whether it would be bigger, he said, “We're going to do something bigger when we can disrupt it with something differentiated,” pointing to how Embraer migrated fly-by-wire into the midsize business jet class.
Meanwhile, Amalfitano called the momentum the company is experiencing as “pretty strong.” This comes as the market appears to be normalizing from the peak after Covid. “We’re taking advantage of that…we’re still capturing sales.” He pointed out that the Phenom 300 has been the most delivered aircraft in its class for a dozen consecutive years and the most delivered twin-engine jet for four years. It also was the most flown private jet in the U.S. during 2023, he added.
“What's interesting about that is it displaced the [Cessna] Citation XLS category, which held the position for 10 consecutive years,” Amalfitano said. “So obviously, that's a big driver in terms of the market momentum. But we've seen similar growth in terms of market penetration across all our products."
The Phenom 100 has grown in market share from 12% to 19%, the 300 has gained an additional point to 34%, and the Praetor 500 has upped its portion of the market from 26% to 33%. The Praetor 600, in the competitive super-midsize category, has remained flat at 19%.
Supporting this is a backlog that has reached what Amalfitano characterized as historically high at $4.6 billion and a book-to-bill that was in excess of 1.3:1 at the end of 2023 and jumped to 2:1 in the first quarter as that ratio has retracted closer to 1:1 at many OEMs. “So pretty significant in terms of the backlog momentum,” he pointed out.
Embraer is now selling into the second half of 2026 across the Phenom and Praetor lines. For the Phenom 300 and Praetor 600 specifically, the company is looking at the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027, respectively.
As far as clients, Amalfitano said it is balanced in most aircraft segments, noting that while the fractional market is strong, the Phenom 100 has no such customer. Rather, it is an owner-flown, flight academy, and entry-level jet aircraft. “We were getting a huge traction in terms of the growth of that product line,” he noted, especially with the launch of the 100EX in October.
The Phenom 300 has benefited with steady orders from NetJets and Flexjet, but sales are a mix, he maintained. “We have a strong corporate flight department [business]. We have high-net-worth individuals. We have fractional, and we have fleet customers across the board. So that's a good balance of trade.”
As for the Praetor 500 and 600, “What's interesting is the increased adoption of the corporate flight departments to our product line. We have gotten the benefit of the Fortune 50, 100, 500, and customers in the corporate flight departments that have been in a replacement cycle. That replacement cycle has been very strong, not only during the pandemic period but since then even stronger. That has really benefited us.”
While this is more of a North American marketplace phenomenon, he said, “We’ve had equal growth of segments on an individual basis in Latin America and Europe. So, lots of opportunity to see our products be served in not only total market share growth but also regional growth in the segments that we serve.”
As far as the new buyers that entered the market during the pandemic, Amalfitano said, “I wouldn't say that that's unique like it was during [that] period. It was this boom effect and the pie got bigger. A bunch of folks came in.”
Embraer benefited from that during the pandemic. “Now as the market normalizes, so do the first-time buyers that are buying the aircraft,” he said estimating that those customers have settled to the mid- to high teens as a percentage of buyers. “It's not phenomenon-based anymore. It's more stable in terms of its growth.”
But as a result of this growth, the company has been able to build on the brand of parent Embraer, now 55 years old, according to Amalfitano. This is a key part of its pillar of maintaining a customer-centric philosophy, he said.
Amalfitano noted that the supply constraints are going to be a critical focus as Embraer works to meet its guidance of 125 to 135 business jet deliveries this year, up from 115 last year. “We're very focused on production leveling so that you have the ability to manage the longer lead time that the backlog has served,” he said. This requires long-term investments to maintain the volume increases.
The supply chain in general has recovered, Amalfitano noted, “but when you get specific in certain segments, it's still very challenging and it has nothing to do with anything unique to Embraer.”
He pointed to windshields as an industry challenge. “Same thing with propulsion, all things engines, all things APUs, all things compressors.” He also said there may be aircraft-specific challenges such as involving landing gear on one and actuators on another. Amalfitano cited resins as an area that is “systemic,” adding that they are in windshields, tires, and interior parts.
“There's a lot going on in terms of managing their supply chain,” he said. Embraer has an advantage in talking to suppliers because of its solid backlog.
“There’s no speculative issues with typical supply-chain cycles. They can go all in because you can show them an order book. That allows them to make the investments they need to then ramp up their people, ramp up their tooling, and ramp up their supply base to support that growth. But it takes time.”
The company has an ambitious research and development agenda, focused on exploring a range of sustainable and autonomous technologies. But whatever these solutions, he added, they have to be customer-centric.
“We need to make sure for whatever new product we come up with, these are kinds of pillars that are really powerful in terms of our design characteristics,” Amalfitano told AIN.
Any new product has to have “unmatched performance, disruptive technology, superior comfort, and top-ranked leading edge support services,” he said. “We're actively in conceptual study phases of looking at the markets that we think will best serve those value propositions in each of those value pillars so that when we come to market, we will continue to capture share, be the customer's first choice, and drive the future of air mobility through innovation.”
But noting the speculation surrounding its next product, he stressed, “We have to recognize that we are reaping. This is harvest season as we call it; we are harvesting the benefit of leading in the categories we serve.”