Embraer Names Its New Bizjets, Sets Prices

Embraer unveiled a mockup of its new midsize business jet and announced it was naming that aircraft the Legacy 500, and its mid-light stablemate the Legacy 450, at EBACE 2008 on Tuesday. Until now, the paper jets were called the MLJ and MSJ. The 500 seats up to 10 and has a range of up to 3,000 nm. The 450 seats up to eight and goes about 2,300 nm on a tank. Introductory pricing was announced, with the 450 starting at $15.25 million and the 500 at $18.4 million. Both will be fly-by-wire and both will be powered by Honeywell HTF7500E engines.

The Brazilian planemaker held a splashy ceremony to announce the names and unveil the cabin mockup. The company has set a relatively ambitious delivery schedule for the aircraft. The 500 will be finished first and first deliveries are expected in 2012, and the 450 will follow in 2013. The additions to the Embraer line fill gaps in the lineup between the very light and light Phenom 100 and 300 models, both of which are flying, and the Legacy 600, an adaptation of the E135 regional jet. Embraer is also converting its 90-passenger E190 airliners into private configurations under the name Lineage.