Overview
Embraer S.A. is a Brazilian aircraft manufacturer founded in 1969 and headquartered in São José dos Campos. It is the third-largest commercial airframer after Boeing and Airbus, and its executive-aviation division builds the general-aviation aircraft in this catalogue: the Phenom 100 and Phenom 300 light jets, the midsize Legacy 450 / Legacy 500, and the super-midsize Praetor 600. The Phenom 300 has been the best-selling light jet every year since 2012 by GAMA delivery figures.
Heritage
Embraer began as a government-owned company building the EMB-110 Bandeirante, a twin-turboprop commuter that entered service in 1973, followed by the pressurized EMB-120 Brasília in the mid-1980s. The company was privatized in 1994 and moved into business aviation in the 2000s with the Phenom light jets. It then designed the Legacy 450 and 500 as clean-sheet midsize jets rather than stretched derivatives, and evolved that line into the Praetor 500 and 600 in 2019, adding range and winglets.
Design Signature
Embraer’s executive jets share a clean-sheet engineering approach. The midsize Legacy and Praetor airframes use full fly-by-wire flight controls – the Legacy 500 was the first midsize business jet certified with the technology, in 2014 – and carry flat-floor, stand-up cabins. The Phenom light jets are certified for single-pilot operation and pair Garmin glass flight decks with a cabin drawn by the BMW Group DesignworksUSA studio. Across the line, these are recent clean-sheet designs rather than updates of older platforms.
For Owners
An Embraer owner buys cabin volume, current-generation avionics, and a service network built around the executive line. The Phenom 300’s long sales record makes it one of the more liquid light jets on the resale market, and the midsize jets cross-shop directly against the Cessna Citation Latitude and the Bombardier Challenger 350. Engines reward program enrollment – Pratt & Whitney Canada turbofans on the Phenoms, Honeywell HTF7500E on the Legacy and Praetor – and engine and avionics status drive pre-buy valuation. The Praetor 600E, type-certified in 2026 with first deliveries planned for 2029, is the latest development of the super-midsize line.