Altitudes Europe #47

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Brazilian in Florida Global company committed to the U.S.market Embraer’s operations in Melbourne, FL, have expanded greatly since the first U.S.-assembled Phenom 100 was delivered to a customer last year. Late this past November, ground was broken for the new Embraer Engineering and Technology Center USA, achieving the next milestone in the development of the 67,000square-foot facility. The new building is expected to open in mid-2014 and will house the 200 employees the Center expects to have by the end of 2016

The driveway entrance at Melbourne, Florida.

Embraer has invested USD 50million and currently employs over 212 ‘Space coast’, highly-specialized labor

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The drive from Orlando towards Melbourne International Airport is about one hour long. On the last stretch, the scenery becomes quite picturesque in a distinctly Floridian fashion: flat, green, with small houses and palm trees growing along the perfectly straight road.

Embraer, coming from a country of winding roads, is investing heavily here.

Announced in 2008, Embraer´s Melbourne campus stretches on 13 acres and currently includes the 80,000square foot assembly and paint facilities for the Phenom 100 and Phenom 300 aircraft, the first jet production facility in Florida, which opened in February 2011, and the stunning customer center. To date, Embraer has invested

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$50 million in current buildings at Melbourne and employs 212. In addition, it has invested over $824 million in the United States in facilities and infrastructure since 1979 through the end of 2011 and expects to have invested approximately $1 billion by the end of 2012.

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER USA Located on 13 acres, the Engineering and Technology Center USA represents a $26 million investment over the next five years by Embraer and is part of the company’s long-term strategy to be closer to its customers and its major markets. The Engineering Cen-

The new facilities are part of the company’s long-term strategy to be closer to its customers and its major markets

ter will create 200 jobs at an average salary of $70,000 per year in such specialties as Mechanical and Electrical Systems Engineers, Interior Design Engineers, Structural Engineers and Certification Engineers. To date, 12 employees, including former Kennedy Space Center personnel, have been hired and are working in temporary facilities adjacent to the airport. The company continues to evaluate potential candidates. “Our strategy is to increase the scope and depth of our engineering capacity extending it globally and enabling Embraer to take full advantage of the engineering talent and resources throughout the world,”

By Ivan Veretennikov and Sylvie Péron

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A mix of up to 8 aircraft (Phenom 100 & 300) can technically be rolled out each month of the brightly lit, tidy building which is virtually noisefree because there is no heavy machinery or loud tools working full-time

said Walter Pinto Jr, Managing Director. The Engineering and Technology Center USA will include a state-of-theart and fully capable engineering center complete with 3D Computer Aided Design, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Finite Element Modeling, 3D Virtual Reality Center, prototype capabilities and sophisticated laboratories and other test equipment.

PHENOM PRODUCTION FACILITY Early November, right after NBAA2012, Managing Director Phil Krull guided on an informative tour the handful of journalists invited to visit the production facility. It is hard to say which is more striking, the Phenom assembly facility or the 58,000-square-foot customer center, opened in December 2011. Together, they offer customers a very close and exciting experience of Embraer, be

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it on the assembly line or in the recently opened design offices.

We started our visit at one end of the assembly line, where a Phenom 300 stood as a fuselage yet to get its wing and empennage. The brightly lit, tidy building is virtually noise-free, because there is no heavy machinery or loud tools working full-time. The floor is clearly marked in the same style as in the other Embraer facilities, and the same attention is given to these marks: everything that should be in place remains in place.

Walking along, we could witness the evolution of the Phenom 100, from one that just got its wing and tail, through a few progressively more complete, and on to a couple waiting to be delivered to their owners. Up to 8 aircraft (mixed between the Phenom 100 and Phenom 300) can technically be rolled out each

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Jay Beever, VP of interior design in the elaborate Design center where customers may choose between more than 3,000 options for the cabin interior of their Phenom, Legacy or Lineage aircraft

month, built from fuselage, wing, and empennage assemblies shipped from Brazil. The first U.S.-assembled Phenom 300 is scheduled for delivery in March 2013, one of more than 12 scheduled for production in Melbourne in that year.

It’s worth mentioning that this is the first Embraer “paperless” operation, where everything to do with assembly, that before would require heavy loads of paperwork, is now available through tablet and stationary PC’s. This includes manuals, component information, and lists of specifications. We noticed quite a few screens nearby the aircraft, and from time to time somebody would go up to one and intently go through some information.

GLOBAL CUSTOMER CENTER Following the visit of the factory the group was directed towards the new customer center. This is the place where future owners, at least some of them, will make their first acquaintance with Embraer and its products. Beautifully designed with an interior finished with high-end materials, it will house a much bigger luxury: full-size cabin mock-ups of all Embraer business jets.

There are conference rooms and meeting rooms, and a tranquil back yard paved with smooth pebbles under the shade of palm trees. Several Phenoms sat on the parking apron that day, flown in from all parts of the country for an owners’ meeting.

On the second floor, tables were formally dressed in the dining room, under one of the most elaborate and easily the most futuristic chandelier ever seen. An entire wall section is lined with green bamboo, offering a refreshing perspective. Jay Beever, VP of interior design, greeted the group in the elaborate Design center. There are many ma-

terial, carpet, and veneer sample to look at, feel, and combine – in total over 3,000 options for the Phenom, Legacy and Lineage executive aircraft. Customers will soon be treated to an iPad app allowing them to play around with a choice of different styles, and finetune each style, switching between various views inside an aircraft rendering.

This is quite a step forward from having to imagine an aircraft interior based on a few samples of carpet and a selection of different veneers and leathers. Today, the customer gets a very good idea of what he is in for, which perhaps might

help refrain from the more adventurous color and material combinations.

The lightning pace with which Embraer erected and launched a full-scale assembly plant and customer center confirms its commitment to be a global aviation company. The Brazilian manufacturer launched its first business jet only 12 years ago. With a family of 7 business jets in all classes except for the ultra-long-range, existing production facilities in Brazil, the U.S., and China, up-and-coming plant in Portugal, and a constantly growing customer base, the ■ long-term effort is paying off.

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Nextant 400XT Going the XTra Mile There must be a secret side to a light jet offered at the price of a VLJ. Sometimes it’s a shady history. Sometimes it’s age, covered up with some cosmetics – and no big secret at all. In the case of the Nextant 400XT, however, age becomes a very valuable advantage, saving the buyer about $4 million. And for all practical purposes, you’re still getting a new aeroplane.

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By Ivan Veretennikov

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Nextant Aerospace’s brand-new production facility in Cleveland, Ohio, recently expanded by 11500 sq. m. to accommodate an output of 48 aircraft per year

They started life as Mitsubishi aircraft, then carried on as Beechjet and Hawker models. And now some – the luckier ones, judging by the result – become the Nextant 400XT, a completely remanufactured light jet, with a longer flight range, better fuel economy, modern avionics, and a whole number of other significant changes. The amount of work Nextant puts into this neat aircraft justifies the claim that it can be considered a new type. Let’s take a closer look.

THE IDEA Kenneth Ricci, the founder of Nextant and major fractional ownership operator Flight Options, comments why the Beechjet/Hawker 400 was chosen as the remanufacturing platform: “The considerations are quite simple, and there are just three of them: 1. It has to be a good aircraft with some sort of deficiency that needs to be addressed. 2. There have to be enough of the aircraft on the market for such an effort to make sense – it has to be a popular model in the first place. 3. There has to be a sufficient resale market. In terms of cabin comfort and flight range the 400XT is aimed squarely at the Citation CJ4 and Phenom 300, but costs much less. There is a very good market for this aircraft.” Good indeed. Kenn doesn’t mention that his own company, Flight Options, acquired 40 of these aircraft worth $150 million, but does say that the total backlog will be $175 million after 25 planes are delivered by the end of 2012. This is very impressive for a light jet in current market conditions, so we really have to see what makes it so special.

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THE PROCESS Taking a Beechjet 400 and turning into the Nextant 400XT is referred to by the company as “remanufacturing”, and this is exactly what it is. It is not a refurbishment or overhaul, where the customer brings in his own plane and says what he wants. This is a new model, with its own type certificate, and it comes with a range of options. The essence, however, is predetermined: Modern Williams FJ44-3AP engines, several aerodynamic changes, a Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 glass cockpit, completely new wiring harness, and a choice of standard interiors. Everything that has age limitations is either changed for new equipment and parts or is overhauled to “zero-time” status. Since the airframe originally has no limit, it is the only major component left unchanged. While this is not a brand-new airplane, for all practical purposes it will be: It even comes with a factory warranty. 6000 manhours and about as many parts are put into the Nextant 400XT, in a brand-new production facility based in Cleveland, Ohio, recently expanded by 11500 sq. m. to accommodate a planned output of 48 aircraft per year – a very formidable figure in these challenging times.

THE PLANE The Nextant 400XT does not compete with the Beechjet or Hawker – it goes a whole level up. A repositioning of engine nacelles, an aerodynamically-improved cowling and pylon, optional winglets all result in less drag, by themselves increa-

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sing the flight range by 4-5%. The big deal, however, are the engines. The compact Williams FJ44 made a revolution when it was offered in the early 90s, and became the single most important factor behind the variety of VLJ projects in the past decade. The fact that it was chosen for the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, on which adventurer Steve Fossett circumnavigated the world in just 2 days 19 hours and 1 minute without a single fuel stop (smashing the previous record of 9 days and 3 minutes) speaks for itself. It is a small, powerful, reliable FADEC engine that needs only about 2/3 of the fuel consumed by older engines in its category – the Pratt & Whitney JT15D installed on the Beechjet, to be more specific.

With the FJ44, the Nextant can do trips of 2000 nm (3700 km) with 4 passengers – an outstanding achievement. The original aircraft would only go about 2800 km, barely enough to reach Moscow from London, and no good for a flight from the UAE to Kazakhstan, for example.

Improved range, climb performance, and cabin noise (aided by new soundproofing) come with the Williams engine. The 400XT is more than just a re-engined plane, however. Its mo-

dern avionics suite has options such as synthetic vision, integrated flight information system (IFIS), and wide area augmentation system (WAAS) that will keep pilots well-informed. The completely re-done cabin, including HD video, coloured LED lighting, onboard Wi-Fi, satellite phone, iPad/iPod docks, and all the other niceties you would expect to find on a recently-produced aircraft, will make the flight more enjoyable. Most options come at a price, however, so the total price of the aircraft may go up $300-400 thousand and more, depending what choices are made.

“We include the acquisition of a pre-owned aircraft and its total remanufacture in the price. Our brand-new facility mainly employs trained technicians as opposed to just mechanics, which means that the complex jobs are handled with greater precision, and the resulting quality is top-notch.

6000 hours go into each aircraft: We take everything out, and then put new systems, equipment, engines etc. in place.

We even custom-build the wire harnesses – that’s a huge undertaking. It takes us 14 weeks to roll out a Nextant 400XT,” says Kenn Ricci.

The cabin has been entirely done over and the resulting quality is top-notch.

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THE COMPETITION Sitting low on the ground, with a sharp long nose that subtly transforms into the fuselage, the latter continuing in a straight line to the T-tail, the Nextant 400XT looks sporty, compact, and well-proportioned. It can actually fit as many as 9 people (1 on the toilet seat) plus 2 crew, although 4 passengers would be most comfortable in this size of aircraft, and 6 would be just about enough. With its $4 million price tag, it’s roughly the same price as a Phenom 100 and cheaper than a HondaJet, but offers much better performance and cabin – at the level of the Cessna Citation CJ4 (almost $9 m) and Embraer Phenom 300 ($8.8 m). We could even compare it to the new Learjet 70, worth $11.5 m, offering about the same range and a longer cabin of greater volume, but Nextant seem to be content with the Citation and Phenom as primary competitors.

A maximum range of 3700 km with 4 passengers, a 22-minute climb to 13100 m, and a high-speed cruise speed of 850 km/h are all figures one expects of a light jet made in 2012 and onwards, sold at over $8.5 million… which is exactly where the Nextant 400XT leaves its competition far behind.

Sure, there are enough people on the market who won’t be satisfied with the “good as new” philosophy – just as there is a bunch who can see the direct benefits straight away. This not only goes for the acquisition price, but also the operating and fixed costs, which should be on par with the competition, taking into account the factory warranty and relatively low depreciation (Nextant officials expect it to be less than that of new aircraft).

The 400XT can cover all of Europe (Moscow-London for example) nonstop. With one fuel stop, it can reach any destination in North and South America or get to China and Russia from Dubai. The flat floor and “squared” cross-section

make the cabin more comfortable than a standard “tube”: There is enough shoulder room, and plenty of space below so that your feet are not tangled with another passenger’s. A proper bulkhead separates the lavatory from the rest of the cabin. The baggage compartment is not as spacious as that on the Phenom 300 (and Embraer is very hard to beat in any class), but it’s still enough for suitcases and golf clubs, although some have been heard to complain that this plane doesn’t like overpacked passengers.

Aftersale support in the USA should be no problem, with seven maintenance and overhaul facilities. Maintenance in the rest of the world is through factory-approved centres, building on the vast experience with Beechjet and Hawker operations. For now this sounds like a weak area, however, and as the global fleet grows we would expect Nextant to address the issue with own service centres around the world.

THE FUTURE With a full 2-year warranty on the airframe, 3 years provided for engines by Williams, and another 2 on avionics, the Nextant 400XT comes with a number of benefits characteristic of a brand-new aircraft. Even pilot training is included, though re-training from a Beechjet (which is probably what most pilots will be in for) is very simple. With the future of Hawker now very uncertain, the 400XPR, a manufacturer take at improving the Hawker 400, is out of the way, and the battle will be against advanced new aircraft, such as the Cessna Citation CJ4 and Embraer Phenom 300. In regions such as the USA and Europe, where the 3700 km flight range allows the owner to get virtually anywhere, and given the $4 million benefit on acquisition compared to the abovementioned, the 400XT will definitely get its share of the

“Over 6000 hours go into each aircraft. We take everything out and then put new systems, equipment, engines etc…, in place,” says Kenn Ricci

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market. Another good place may be South America, where Embraer is very successful in selling its light jets.

When speaking of regions where “buying big” is still the trend – such as the Middle East, Russia, China, and India, massive sales are doubtful. There is a way out for Nextant, however. Asked about the vague prospects of the Hawker lineup, the seemingly attractive – and significantly larger – Hawker 900, and the possibility of adding this model to the remanufacturing roster, Kenn Ricci commented: “We didn’t see it [Hawker Beechcraft ceasing the production of Hawker] coming. The Hawker 900 does meet our criteria that I mentioned before – it has some deficiencies that can be improved, it exists in great numbers, and there is a resale market for a new version. However, we already have an announcement coming in January. We’ve looked at 4 different models and narrowed the choice down to 1. Now we’re just waiting for one final supplier agreement, and will tell the world what it is. In about three years from now, we’ll have another model coming off our production lines.”

January is just around the corner. It’s easier to wait for the announcement than to start guessing. Whatever it is, it’s sure to be a bigger aircraft with greater range. And when it comes, the formula of “(almost) brand-new aircraft for half the money” will attract a new audience: Those who want to ■ fly big, but not spend big.

The USD 4million, max 9 pax (1 on the toilet seat) + 2 crew Nextant 400XT looks sporty, compact and well-proportioned

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