Story ID: 468
Embraer Delivers First Florida-assembled Legacy 500
By: Chad Trautvetter
Caption: Besides today’s Legacy 500 handover, the Florida facility has assembled and delivered two Legacy 450s and more than 250 Phenoms.
Word Count: 344

Embraer Executive Jets delivered the first midsize Legacy 500 assembled at its recently expanded Melbourne, Florida plant to an undisclosed U.S. customer late last month. The facility assembles all Phenoms and some Legacy 450/500s, with the remainder of the midsize jets produced at Embraer’s headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil.

“We are pleased to deliver the first Legacy 500 made in Melbourne, fulfilling our vision of expanding production to assemble four world-class business jets on Florida’s Space Coast,” said Embraer Executive Jets president and CEO Michael Amalfitano. “I want to congratulate our teams on their passion for excellence and their commitment to deliver true value to customers. The Legacy 500…is attracting a strong interest with corporate flight departments and fleet operators, in addition to individual owners.”

Besides today’s Legacy 500 handover, the Florida facility has assembled and delivered two Legacy 450s and nearly 260 Phenoms. Embraer has delivered nearly 800 Phenoms and 70 Legacy 450/500s so far. A second Legacy 500 is nearing completion at the Melbourne plant and will be delivered in early December, while a third Legacy 500 started moving down the production line last week, Embraer Executive Jets managing director and COO Phil Krull told AIN.

The Florida assembly expansion was completed in May last year, adding Legacy 450/500 production to the existing Phenom 100/300 line. It more than doubled the size of the facility, to 149,000 sq ft/124,600 sq m, allowing the Legacy 450/500 and Phenom 100/300 lines to be side-by-side under one roof. The first Legacy 450 started rolling down the line on May 16, 2016.

An adjoining 31,000-sq-ft/25,920-sq-m completion center/flight-prep building—which, unlike the previous flight-prep area, has a fire-suppression system to accommodate fueled aircraft—has been in operation since last June. A separate two-bay paint facility, which has provisions for a robotic painter, and two-bay delivery center for the Legacy midsize jets was completed late last year. The campus also houses a customer center complete with an interior design center and Phenom delivery bays, as well as a separate engineering complex.
, full_html