12/04/2007 10h14

Embraer sells 100 airplanes to American company

Folha de S. Paulo - 12/04/2007

Yesterday, Embraer announced the sale of one hundred Phenom 300 aircrafts (executive jets with capacity for up to nine passengers) to Flight Options, an American company specialized in private aviation. The agreement includes purchase options for other 50 airplanes of the same model, in other words, there is the possibility of the customer buying fifty other Phenom 300 airplanes. The value of the contract may reach US$ 1.12 billion (nearly R$ 1.9 billion) in case all the purchase options are confirmed. That is the largest order of the Phenom 300 ever registered by the Brazilian manufacturer, which launched the model in 2005 with the Phenom 100 (with capacity for six to eight people). In little more than two years, the order portfolio of Embraer registers about 500 firm orders of both jet planes (the company does not confirm the exact number). Embraer and Flight Options have also entered into an agreement for the carrying out of a maintenance and support program for the aircrafts, whose value, according to the Brazilian manufacturer, exceeds US$ 200 million (R$ 356 million). The beginning of the deliveries of the aircrafts is expected for the end of 2009. With headquarters in the American State of Ohio, Flight Options was founded in 1998 and currently has a fleet with 130 executive jets, formed by models such as the Hawker 400 XP and Cessna Citation, besides eight Legacy 600, an aircraft manufactured by the Brazilian Embraer with capacity for up to 13 passengers.