On the Record With
Sam Hill, Vice President and Corporate Sales Director, Empresa Brasileira De Aeronáutica ­ Embraer

"We have three messages for the customer at NBAA," says Sam Hill, corporate vice president in charge of corporate jet sales at Brazil's Embraer: "It's value, value, value."

"We give a lot of airplane for the cost," he says of his firm's Legacy, now offered at $20.4 million (in January 2002 dollars) for a fully furnished super-midsize business jet with higher-thrust AE 3007A1E engines from Rolls-Royce. Cabin size is said to compare favorably with aircraft costing half again as much.

Embraer reports 71 firm orders and 93 options for Legacy, which already has its Brazilian and European JAA certifications. Two aircraft are in service in Brazil, and one in Europe, with a second European delivery expected this month.

U.S. FAA certification, delayed by the events of 9/11, is expected any day, after which U.S. deliveries will start. "It has been a challenging effort to keep everyone's attention," Hill says, at an agency that's been forced to shift much of its resource base to security issues. The company says there are no technical issues.

Embraer has a Legacy on the static line here at NBAA 2002 and two interior mockups, one showing the 19-seat shuttle configuration. The corporate mockup differs from the interior of the demonstrator aircraft in that it has a recessed aisle affording increased headroom. The flat-floor configuration visible on the static line allows for four-club conference seating.

Legacy's interior was designed by Nordam, although Embraer does its own completions in Brazil. Interior work, and eventually final assembly of the aircraft, is being shifted to the company's new special programs facility at Gavião Peixoto there.

With the new AE 3007A1E engine, "We are able to open up 4,000 additional airports around the world," Hill says, as minimal runway takeoff length drops from 6,000 feet to approximately 5,750 feet (testing is not quite complete). The 8,110-pound-thrust "E" engine will become standard as of the beginning of 2003. Current Legacy executive jets are powered by the 7,580-pound-thrust AE 3007A1P, while the 7,200-pound-thrust AE 3007A1/3 powers the Legacy Shuttle.

Hill acknowledges that a "big rush of interest" in the Legacy following 9/11 hasn't translated into many orders. "A lot of people," he notes, echoing others in the industry, "lost a tremendous amount" behind the ensuing stock market woes.

But Embraer has suffered just a handful of Legacy cancellations, and has enjoyed better than expected business in Europe, South America and Asia, Hill says. "When the U.S. market comes back, I think we're going to be even stronger than we'd anticipated," he says. "We're still the best value in the market for the airplane you get."
As for Legacy II, bas

ed on Embraer's new 170 regional jet? Maybe. "We're in the evaluation stage," says Hill, trying to determine whether the passenger aircraft's range and runway performance can be brought up to business jet standards for a reasonable cost. "We want to make sure there's enough of a market," he says.

Brazilian With a Florida Feel
Embraer may be headquartered in São José dos Campos, Brazil, but its business aircraft activities are increasingly centered right here in the Sunshine State. The firm's sales activities are headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, as are customer support and marketing functions.

The company has an engineering center in West Palm Beach that will eventually employ 100 professionals, and it's planning a new corporate aircraft design center in Fort Lauderdale, with groundbreaking expected by year-end.

Embraer is expanding in Brazil, too, building a $150 million special programs facility at Gavião Peixoto, some 186 miles northwest of Sao Paulo. Gavião Peixoto will see final assembly of Embraer corporate jets, and will also serve as the company's flight test headquarters.

Approximately $42 million will be spent there by the end of this year, Embraer says, and over the coming decade the new Brazil location will grow to employ some 3,000 people.