Story ID: 
Embraer Hands Over First European Legacy 450
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: The new twinjet will arrive in Brussels in January, ready for charter service.
Word Count: 179
Embraer has delivered its first EASA-registered Legacy 450 to Luxembourg-based Smart Air SA, which will manage the aircraft on behalf of a customer. The twinjet, operated by ASL, will be based in Brussels and available for charter starting in January. “We are pleased to welcome Smart Air SA as the first European company to manage a Legacy 450,” said Embraer president and CEO Marco Tulio Pellegrini. The clean-sheet design received its EASA certification this summer. The aircraft is the first in its class to feature digital flight controls and full fly-by-wire capability, with a maximum cruise speed of  Mach 0.83 and a ceiling of 45,000 feet. At NBAA’s annual convention last month in Las Vegas, the manufacturer announced that the airplane has a range of 2,900 nm; the initial projection was 2,575 nm.

“We recommended the Legacy 450 to a customer of ours long before all the positive reports from pilots and journalists,” noted Smart Air founder and CEO Stéphane Ledermann. “We are convinced that this aircraft will be very successful, and we can’t wait to fly it soon.”