Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer (Chalet 2) forecasts worldwide demand of 750 business jets per year for the next decade, according to Claudio Camelier, vice president of sales for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
Speaking at ABACE 2019, Camelier noted that while the average over the past five years has been 671 new jet deliveries globally, the company’s predictions are in line with the average over the past 15 years including the boom years of 2007 and 2008. Of that total of 7,500 new business jet deliveries, Embraer expects the Asia-Pacific region will account for 850 of them or 11 percent, worth an approximate $33 billion.
Of the more than 1,200 jets currently in the region nearly half are large-cabin, giving it one of the highest concentrations of those aircraft in the world.
“What we have seen in the Chinese market is this is a large-cabin, ultra-long-range market,” said Stephen Friedrich, chief commercial officer of Embraer Executive Jets. “When you take a look a the performance of this market over the past five years, the vast majority of sales have been in that long-range, large-cabin marketplace.
“We actually last year had the best sales that we’ve had over the past three years in terms of the number of units sold,” said Friedrich, adding that the first quarter of 2019 was the strongest opening quarter in the history of the division. “Overall the market was very positive over the last 15 months or so.”
“The good news is that [the number of] preowned airplanes available for sale worldwide are at a record low level in the past 10 years,” said Camelier. “There are untapped opportunities in the midsize and light jet categories, which is a huge market opportunity for Embraer market growth in the Asia-Pacific region.”
In October, Embraer launched the super-midsize and midsize Praetor 600 and 500, which it expects will receive certification in the second and third quarters of this year, respectively. According to Embraer, the two-cabin-zone Praetor 600 will have the longest range in its class at 3,900 nm, with a base price of $20.995 million, and is sold out through the second quarter of 2020.
At ABACE the manufacturer is exhibiting its Legacy 500 and Phenom 300, which has been the best selling light jet for the past eight years and recently saw a milestone with the delivery of the 500th example.
