NetJets placed an order worth more than $1.2 billion for 100 Embraer Phenom 300Es, which will about double its fleet of the Phenom 300 series.

Embraer plans to deliver the first aircraft to NetJets in the second quarter of 2023. The contract includes a service agreement.

The fractional operator intends to use the aircraft in both its U.S. and European operations, says Michael Amalfitano, president and CEO of Embraer Executive Jets.

NetJets starting ordering Phenoms in 2010 and has amassed a fleet of more than 100 in a decade.

While the delivery schedule of this new order is not clear, Amalfitano tells Aviation Week that NetJets has the “flexibility of taking more of less [aircraft] in any given year.” However, given the market’s strength and the fact that NetJets had to stall sales of Phenoms earlier this year due to tapped out supply, the buyer might be inclined to take delivery of more aircraft sooner than it has done historically.

The base price for a Phenom 300 is $9,650,000. Embraer has sold out of the model into 2023, says Amalfitano.

Part of this is driven by a big uptick in first-time buyers, for both aircraft sales and fractional shares. Historically, first-time buyers comprise 10-12% of the industry, but through 2021 that figure has climbed to 30%, he says, “and in the case of Embraer, in the first half of the year it was 34%.”

When you look at Embraer’s backlog, “it’s even higher than that,” he adds.

Amalfitano says the Phenom 300 series jet is “the most delivered aircraft in the light jet segment for nine years in a row.”