B/CA Show News - NBAA 2007 Day 1 - (Page 126) N B A A 2 0 07 ON THE RECORD— Luis Carlos Affonso, SVP for Executive Jets, Embraer Embraer Unveils New Concept Jets Embraer has made no secret of its intention to become a major player in the business jet market. Today it is unveiling two new concept aircraft that show quite clearly where it will strike next with an 11-seat Mid Sized Jet (MSJ) to compete with the Gulfstream G150, Learjet 60, Cessna Sovereign and Hawker 900XP, and a smaller version 10-seat Mid Light Jet (MLJ) to take on the Citation XLS+, Learjet 45XR, and Hawker 750. How does Embraer plan to beat the competition in two already crowded categories? The Brazilian company’s svp executive jets Luis Carlos Affonso explains why these cannot be “me too” products. “From the beginning we have said we will develop only very differentiated airplanes, and we are testing our concepts here at NBAA.” (Booth 3737) What are the main points of differentiation? “In the long term we will offer a complete portfolio of business jets from the four-passenger Phenom 100 light jet to the Embraer 190-based Lineage 1000 executive aircraft What about ‘Embraer style?’ A Again we have hired BMW DesignworksUSA to design the interiors, as in the Phenoms. What about construction? A We are still studying that. We are talking to companies on specialized composites as well as other specialized suppliers. That is why we call them concepts. It’s not yet decided if they will be flyby-wire. How will the price compare with the competition? A You should look at our strategy on the Phenom 100 and 300. We have designed the best-in-class airplanes so you shouldn’t expect it to be less than other airplanes. But it is much more value for the dollar. With the Phenom, customers do recognize the value and are ready to pay for it. A The Legacy and the Phenoms have the largest cabins in their class. So do the MLJ and MSJ. Not only the volume, but also the width, the height, and especially the fact that we have a flat floor, which you will not find in any other airplane in this segment. And they have the largest baggage compartments. • Payload/range on the MSJ is true coast-to-coast with eight passengers, whereas a majority of our competitors can do that only with four. The MLJ has the same payload, and is also a very capable airplane. • These airplanes are very well balanced in terms of speed—they will cruise at Mach 0.82, they fly high, and have very good performance. How are you able to do this? We will gradually fill in the gaps in a wellplanned manner. We want to be in every segment of this market.” The company has set a goal of capturing 30% of the world business jet market in 10 years. —Luis Carlos Affonso, Embraer’s svp for executive jets, quoted in Show News, EBACE, May 2006 The aircraft themselves. Are these two different models or is there commonality? A The airplanes are very similar even though the fuselage differs in length. Wings, engines, avionics are the same. The MLJ is a shortened version of the MSJ. continued on page 128 A They are economical because we are using state of the art technology to develop the wings. We will use latest technology engines. They are clean sheet designs featuring the latest technology to optimize them for their mission. They are not developments or derivatives. 126 September 25, 2007 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
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