Embraer’s executive jets are in extremely high demand

Embraer’s executive jets are in extremely high demand, accounting for 26% of sales in 2021. Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer saw significant growth in its executive aviation branch in 2021 and accounted for 26% of the market of first-time executive jet buyers last year.

Embraer executive aviation growth
Though the COVID-19 pandemic was challenging for airlines and aircraft manufacturers worldwide, some aviation segments saw growth. A few weeks ago, at Embraer’s Media Day 2022, an event held for the international press, Michael Amalfitano, CEO and President of Embraer Executive Jets, gave a presentation on Embraer’s executive aviation branch. Amalfitano began his presentation by highlighting the market of first-time buyers.

According to Amalfitano, a normal market of first-time buyers is 10-15% and comes in different areas, whether small or large jets. Speaking about past trends in the first-time buyer market, Amalfitano stated,

“…there was no real perspective that was consistent, it was unique to the times of the year. In the pandemic period, in this transformation from 2019 to today, the growth from the bottom has been literally a step change. It’s at least 20% in total, when you look at the various growth. In our case, we had a 26% share of that growth. ”

Embraer has such a large share of the first-time buyer market because the growth comes from the base, entry-level jet, light jet, medium cabin, and small cabin aircraft. All four of Embraer’s executive jets fit into these categories.

Amalfitano, speaking on concerns about executive aviation customers reverting to airlines, said there is no concern that first-time customers will revert to commercial aviation. He stated that in the past, executives may have been hesitant “because they would not want to expose families, customers, and their own companies to that framework of visibility.” But now, the drivers for the growth that the executive aviation market is seeing are health, safety, security, and privacy.

Historic sales across all four products
Let’s dive into some specifics of Embraer’s growth in executive aviation. In 2021, Embraer Executive Aviation had “historic, record sales, off the charts, across all four products, entry-level jet, light jet, medium jet, and super-midsize,” according to Amalfitano. The sales growth was so significant that Embraer’s executive jet backlog is solid and approaching $3 billion. Its book-to-bill ratio is over 2.1:1, generating more than two years’ backlog. If a customer were to order a jet today, delivery would only occur in Q3 or Q4 of 2024.

The Phenom 300 has been the leading aircraft, best-selling, most delivered light jet for ten consecutive years. Embraer’s Phenom aircraft (Phenom 100EV and Phenom 300E) hold 31% of the market share, the largest share of any aircraft manufacturer. The Praetor jets are relatively new, having been launched in 2018. Embraer is on-trend to capture close to 30% of the market with the Praetor 500 and 20% or greater with the Praetor 600.

In addition to a growth of first-time buyers, Amalfitano stated that there was record growth in the pre-owned aircraft market in 2021. During the same period that Embraer experienced record sales of new aircraft, it also experienced the most number of trade transactions for pre-owned aircraft. When asked whether he believes this first-time buyer growth is a trend or a one-time bump, Amalfitano stated that because Embraer is in the segment at the base of the expansion, he believes that there is a higher propensity for continued growth. simpleflying.com