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Embraer says Australia is one of the top three markets for its business jet arm in the Asia Pacific and expects deliveries to pick up in the period ahead.
The Brazil-based manufacturer has brought four aircraft to the 2015 Avalon International Airshow, ranging from the entry-level the Phenom 100 to the slightly larger Phenom 300 all the way to the larger capacity Legacy 500 and Legacy 650.
It is the company’s largest ever presence at Avalon.
Embraer Executive Jets vice-president of marketing and sales for the Middle East and Asia-Pacific Claudio Camelier says: “It’s a sign we believe that Australia will grow and Embraer Executive Jets will grow together and we will have more jets here in the coming years.”
Embraer business jet product line has seven models with sixth already flying. The seventh, the Legacy 450, is in the final stages of certification and is expected to enter service later in 2015 , according to Camelier. The company’s global fleet of executive jets sits at about 850 aircraft spread out across 50 countries.
It has forecast about 9,250 new deliveries in the business jet sector worth about US$265 billion between 2015 and 2024, with about half of those slated for the North American market.
Camelier expects Australia’s fleet of Embraer business jets to grow from five currently as operators up-gauged to larger aircraft or to update their fleets to take advantage of the technological advancements in the industry.
He says: “In Australia there is a large number of mid-size cabin airplanes so we see a big opportunity there for replacing some of those older airplanes with Legacy 500s and even customers that today that operate smaller airplanes growing into the Legacy 500.
“The other is the very positive feedback that we get from our operators. They are all extremely happy with theaeroplane and the support that they get.”
Moreover, Embraer’s expanded portfolio of business jets, which comprise the smaller Phenom range to the larger Legacy aircraft and all the way up to the Lineage 1000E, means the company wass well placed to meet Australian customer requirements.
Camelier expects a small uptick in deliveries here, mostly driven by the introduction of new and more modern business jets not only by Embraer but by other manufacturers.
Embraer’s Asia-Pacific forecast, which does not include China, is for about 570 aircraft to be delivered in the region over the next decade, representing about six per cent the worldwide demand.
China, with a projected 835 deliveries, is about nine per cent of the market.
Camelier says there are 78 Embraer business jets this part of the world –19 light jets, one medium jet and 58 large jets, with Australia, India and Indonesia the three biggest markets in the region.
But he says the market hads not fully recovered from the financial turmoil that struck down many nations in 2008: “Corporations on a global basis are having very high profit levels. In the case of North American corporations even record profit levels. But despite those record profit levels these companies are holding their cash.
“They don’t know what is ahead of them. They have a lot of uncertainty about the future.”
Camelier also noted the pace of economic recovery in Europe is much slower than what was happening in North America.
“In some of the emerging markets we see some slowdown in the economy. In Brazil,for instance, the economy has really slowed down and business jet activity is reduced,” he says.
Embraer first entered the Australian market in 1978, when the EMB-110 Bandeirante went into service. As well as its fleet of business jets, the manufacturer’s commercial aircraft fly with Virgin Australia, Airnorth, Cobham Aviation Services and Jetgo.
The federal government has also recently updated the list of business jets that were able to operate during the curfew hours at Sydney and Adelaide airports, adding a large number of new aircraft to lists that had not been update in 10 years or more.
