Embraer is on track to begin assembling its first Phenom 100 at Florida's Melbourne International airport in June 2011. The 8,721m2 (89,000ft2) final assembly building, currently under construction and set for occupancy in January, will house about 200 employees who will build Phenom 100s and Phenom 300s in the USA, says Gary Spulak, president of Embraer Aircraft Holdings, the Brazilian airframer's US arm. Delivery of the first aircraft is slated for the fourth quarter next year.
Spulak says major airframe components that today are being built at Embraer's home base in Brazil will be shipped from Brazil by boat, and are likely to enter the USA at the port in Jacksonville, Florida, with other major components, such as engines, coming directly to the plant from the individual manufacturers. The plant will have two paint booths.
Embraer has not yet determined at what point buyers will decide where their aircraft is to be delivered, says Spulak. The company several years ago said the plant could produce as many as 22 Phenom 100 and 300s. Embraer so far this year has delivered 67 Phenom 100s and 11 Phenom 300s built in Brazil.
Along with the main construction plant, Embraer will begin construction this quarter of a 1,727m2 customer design centre dedicated to marketing the company's entire line of business jets. "Customers will be able to come and discuss the product line," says Spulak. "They will also be able to view interiors on 3D computer screens and look at mock-ups of the cabins."
Source: Flight International
