Embraer president & CEO Mauricio Botelho (l), Swift Aviation president & CEO Jerry Moyes and Embraer evp Sam Hill (r) launched the Legacy with a 62-plane order at last year's NBAA.

Embraer is targeting Europe with its new Legacy business jet, which is designed to offer a cabin size comparable to Gulfstream-class business aircraft for only $19 million complete, a price comparable to jets in the super-midsize class.

To date, Embraer reports 31 firm orders and 31 options for the Legacy, including a 25/25 commitment from Swift Aviation, a Phoenix, Arizona-based operator, and six firm and six optional aircraft for an as yet unnamed corporate shuttle operator.

Embraer projects sale of 240 Legacy business jets over the next ten years-two thirds to flight departments and fractional operators and the rest to the corporate shuttle market.

"The amount of attention this aircraft is generating has caught us completely by surprise," says Sam Hill, Embraer's executive vice president, corporate aviation. "We went into this thinking we'd sell 120 aircraft over ten years, now it's looking like double that."

A derivative of the 37-seat ERJ-135 regional jet, the Legacy will be offered in two versions: an 8 to 15-seat executive aircraft and a 20-seat shuttle. Embraer is doing all completions itself, with equipment and integrated interiors supplied exclusively by Nordam.

Embraer says it can build the Legacy without a great deal of additional investment. Each aircraft begins as a standard ERJ-135 airframe, which leaves the production line for Legacy- specific modifications.

These include the addition of winglets, belly and aft fuselage fuel tanks, and Rolls-Royce AE3007-A1P engines as found on the ERJ-145 airliner.

First flight of the Legacy is planned for this April, with FAA certification slated for August 2001 and first customer deliveries to Swift Aviation the following month. Embraer is planning a 3,200-nm range for the Legacy, with a maximum operating (Vmmo) speed of O.80 Mach.