Embraer Executive Jets President and CEO Michael Amalfitano.
Embraer Executive Jets President and CEO Michael Amalfitano leads the company’s business with an active fleet of more than 1,500 aircraft and over 940 customers worldwide. He is also chairman of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. He spoke with Lee Ann Shay, Aviation Week Network’s executive editor for business aviation and MRO, about the state of the market, success of the Phenom 300, supply chain issues and advanced air mobility.
Deliveries of Embraer’s light jet Phenoms were up 83% and medium-jet Praetors tripled in the first quarter, year over year. Is this indicative of Embraer’s overall backlog and current sales?
We had a strong sales momentum in the first quarter because demand for private travel is strong, and demand for the industry-leading products in the segments we serve is strong. For year-over-year results, we delivered 115 units in 2023 compared to 105 in 2022. When you look at first-quarter results, that momentum continued. You see revenue growth, sales growth and delivery growth, so all of these things are building to that backlog you refer to, which is at an all-time historic level. It’s in excess of $4.6 billion and continues to grow.
And as you saw from the year-end results—and it’s not too dissimilar in terms of first quarter—we ended the year at a 1.3:1 book-to-bill ratio. We’re selling into the second half of 2026 across all four family of products. At the end of the first quarter, that has grown in excess to a 2:1 book-to bill, so we’re now starting to push things into the first quarter of 2027 for Phenom 300s and Praetor 600s.
In terms of customer profile, we’re starting to get momentum of not only a very high demand for fractionals but now we’re now seeing the corporate flight department replacement cycle really take root. It’s rebounding nicely. It’s a good time for us to position ourselves with the Fortune 50, 100 and 500 customers in corporate flight departments. We’re getting comments in the marketplace about our products because flight departments are taking delivery of our aircraft, and new sales are forging as a result of that. What’s really interesting about all of this is that the entire market is normalizing off its peak, but we’re not part of that normalization. We are clearly taking more share.
When did the corporate flight departments really start picking up?
It started in the pandemic but it has heightened. It used to be spotty because people were still in their fleet planning cycle and potentially holding off a bit during that period. It’s now resurged. We have two benefits with our products. You have the natural benefit of people who are in that segment and have super-midsize or midsize aircraft that they are looking to replace. But we also got the benefit, as a result of the pandemic, from rightsizing the footprint. Some of the larger-category aircraft customers in that segment see that the Praetor can serve all of their needs regionally. That’s another big component of what we’re seeing with corporate flight departments. So there’s increased adoption for the product itself. There’s rightsizing that’s taking place in terms of their specific fleets. There’s a replacement cycle that’s taking place for these big-name Fortune 50, 100 and 500 companies that buy more than one airplane, and they’re making a fleet conversion. We’re not only getting the right to play in those segments of transactions, but we’re winning and we’re winning at a good clip, therefore strengthening our position. It will be very, very interesting to see how long the cycle lasts. Cycles come and go, as we’ve seen at other timeframes, but right now, it is very strong and it bodes well for not only our backlog, but for the sales prospects for even 2026 and 2027 because these corporations are not in a rush. They take their time, they plan, and have a very clear strategy.
How long do you predict the cycle could last?
The only measurement we have is that airframe OEMs, not just Embraer, have strong backlogs. We’ve got this ongoing supply chain challenge that puts pressure on the ability to grow quickly. So we could see things continuing for quite some time as a result of that. Operators need those aircraft but have to wait for them due to the strength of the backlog. The supply chain pressures the industry.
During the last earnings call, Embraer said it is starting to get some relief across the board for supply chain. What changes are you seeing on the executive jet side?
In general, if you look at any product segment, whether it be entry light, mid or super, they’ve all recovered, but are there still outliers? Yes, and those outliers are a handful of suppliers. That still makes it challenging to do production tests, flights and pressurization. They’re mainly big things--all things windows and windshields, all things that have resin or rubber materials such as tires and composites in landing gear because of industry-wide shortages. Then you have things that are unique to our products, including engine manufacturers, auxiliary power unit manufacturers or compressors manufacturers.
And because we’ve had such a step change in our own demand due to sales, then you get into more specifics, such as actuators and interiors. It’s been a very good recovery in general, but it takes millions of parts to make an airplane fly and have to have all of them. And labor is a big issue for suppliers—being able to get the master craftsmen necessary to have a yield output of the products, such as castings and forgings, that they’re creating to meet marketplace demand. I think that will continue throughout this year and won’t see a full recovery until at least mid-2025.
The Phenom 300 has been the best-selling light jet for 12 years. That’s impressive.
The Phenom 300 won not only the best-selling jet over the 12 years, but also the most delivered jet over the 12 years. It also has won the twin-engine category for the last four consecutive years. It displaced the Cessna Citation XLS as the most flown aircraft measured by the flights in a 12-month period. It’s now the most flown business jet in the United States out of any business jet. You get the benefit of first-time buyers, owner pilots, corporations, fractional fleet charter and everybody else that buys that aircraft in one 12-month period. The Phenom 300 has the highest residual value. It’s clearly shown it’s got high dispatch reliability. It’s continuing to evolve in terms of its innovation, performance, technology and support.
We continue to improve it. We added auto throttle, which was a big driver to a lot of the folks that operated the aircraft and were looking for that improvement that helps fuel efficiency. We added depth of support, because when you have about 780 aircraft in market, you need to add support to keep up with sales. We announcement in October 2023 that we’re doubling the training capacity with CAE In Las Vegas, which came online in the first quarter of this year. London is coming online in the third quarter. So that shows that we’re putting investment dollars and support into training of our customers because of the strength of sales and deliveries in that segment.
What impact has the single-pilot operation had for that aircraft?
We’ve had the benefit of single-pilot operations since the start of the program. For owner pilots of the Phenom 100 series E and EV—and now the EX, which we launched last year—that gives them operational versatility and efficiencies. It’s a natural transition from the 100 customers to the 300 because there is commonality between platforms in terms of all things Garmin and all things avionics such as stabilized approaches, predictive windshear, FlightStream 510 and Runway Overrun Awareness and Alerting System. With all of these things being common, that naturally helps us transition customers from the Phenom 100 to the 300 or the 300 customers to stay us with by transition to the 300E. It’s also enjoyed by both NetJets and Flexjet, which are the largest customers in take-rate in both segments.
How are you handling the potential crossover for customers who might operate Eve Air Mobility vehicles, too?
We’re conducting focus group discussions with customers from all the segments—agriculture to commercial, defense and executive jet. Those conversations are taking place so it’s too early to have any kind of traction. We have a full-stack solution for Eve—a 100% electric vehicle, a service support network already in place, the backing of Embraer as its largest stakeholder and an air traffic management solution through a partnership with Atech—that can be leveraged. We’re on track to bring it to market in late 2026 or early 2027.
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