Embraer Phenom 100EV Charter

The Embraer Phenom 100 was the aircraft that legitimised Embraer's executive-jet ambitions. Announced in 2005 and first delivered in 2008, it beat the entrenched Cessna Mustang in every dimension that mattered to the very-light-jet market — bigger cabin, better avionics, more contemporary design — and quickly became the best-selling aircraft in its category. The current Phenom 100EV, introduced in 2017, added more powerful Pratt & Whitney PW617F1-E engines with FADEC, a Garmin G3000 flight deck (replacing the original Prodigy) and an updated interior that carries clear DNA from the larger Phenom 300E and Praetor programmes.

More than 400 Phenom 100 airframes have now been delivered, of which roughly 90 are the EV variant flying with charter operators, fractional programmes (particularly NetJets Europe until its recent fleet renewal) and small corporate flight departments. The aircraft is more common in Europe and Latin America than in the US, where the CJ family and Mustang built entrenched positions before the Phenom arrived.

For charter clients, the 100EV is the aircraft you book when you want the polish and cabin sensibilities of the larger Phenom 300 in a smaller, cheaper, single-pilot airframe. It carries the same Bossa Nova interior language, the same premium touchpoints and the same short-runway credentials as its bigger sibling.

The Phenom 100EV's most distinctive feature is its cabin cross-section. Embraer's designers gave the 100EV the same "Oval Lite" fuselage geometry as the Phenom 300, meaning 5 feet 1 inch of cabin height and 5 feet 1 inch of width — wider and taller than the M2, Mustang, or HondaJet, and the only VLJ with genuine "walking" clearance for the average adult. Cabin length is 11 feet, configured as four club seats plus one belted lavatory seat aft.

Materials are notably premium for the class: full leather, contemporary Brazilian design under the BMW Designworks partnership, diamond-stitched sidewalls on the current EV trim, and warm walnut or brushed-metal accents at each seat. The seats themselves fully recline and track, with tables that fold cleanly from the sidewall. USB and 110V outlets are present at every position.

The 100EV is the only VLJ with a genuinely enclosed aft lavatory — belted, ventilated, with a real vanity and a proper door. That is a meaningful comfort upgrade on any flight over an hour and one of the reasons the aircraft is quietly preferred by charter clients over the M2 and Mustang despite similar pricing. Baggage capacity totals 53 cubic feet across an internal nose locker and heated aft hold.

The Garmin G3000 Prodigy Touch flight deck is single-pilot certified, synthetic-vision equipped, LPV-approach capable and configured on most airframes with Gogo AVANCE L3 connectivity. Cabin management runs through the passenger's own phone via the Embraer app for lighting, temperature and window-shade control.

Twin Pratt & Whitney Canada PW617F1-E turbofans deliver 1,730 lbf of thrust each — 20 percent more than the original Phenom 100 — and give the EV a maximum cruise of 406 knots true (Mach 0.70) and a normal high-speed cruise of Mach 0.68. Certified ceiling is FL410, above most weather and traffic. NBAA IFR range with four passengers is 1,178 nautical miles.

Practical mission examples: London to Milan, Paris to Barcelona, Geneva to Rome, Frankfurt to Nice, Vienna to Athens (four pax, tight reserves), Teterboro to Chicago, Miami to Nassau. Longer transcontinental sectors fall outside the aircraft's operational envelope and require a fuel stop.

Runway performance is genuinely excellent for the class: take-off field length is 3,190 ft at maximum weight, landing distance is 2,430 ft. That opens Lugano, Sion, London City (with steep-approach mod), Innsbruck, Aspen, Sun Valley, Nantucket and the majority of European regional fields. The aircraft's hot-and-high climb performance is a notable strength.

Fuel burn sits at approximately 100 US gallons per hour in cruise — the lowest of any twinjet, roughly tied with the Eclipse 550 and 20 percent lower than the Citation M2. Combined with single-pilot operation, this delivers a direct operating cost of $1,050–$1,400 per flight hour.

The Phenom 100EV is at its best on European city-to-city executive travel where the airline alternative is genuinely slow or inconvenient: London to Amsterdam, Zurich to Milan, Paris to Munich, Frankfurt to Geneva, Vienna to Prague. On these one-to-two-hour hops the 100EV's Oval Lite cabin punches meaningfully above its category and the total door-to-door time advantage over an airline first-class product is 90 minutes to two hours.

A second cluster of missions plays to the aircraft's short-runway performance for weekend leisure travel: London to Le Touquet, Munich to Innsbruck, Zurich to Sion, Frankfurt to Sylt, Paris to St. Tropez / La Môle. The 100EV is one of very few jets that can land at these airfields, and the cost of doing so is close to what the same passengers would pay for a turboprop.

In the US, the 100EV competes head-to-head with the Citation M2 and HondaJet Elite II on short regional missions — Teterboro to Boston, Dallas to Austin, Miami to Naples FL, Chicago to Detroit. The Phenom's larger cabin and enclosed lavatory usually swing the choice when the operator makes the aircraft available at competitive rates.

Charter rates for the Phenom 100EV typically fall between $3,000 and $3,800 per hour in North America and €3,100–€3,900 in Europe — essentially at parity with the Citation M2 and HondaJet Elite II. Indicative all-inclusive one-way pricing: London to Milan from £6,900; Geneva to Nice from €3,400; London to Amsterdam from £3,900; Miami to Nassau from $4,100; Teterboro to Boston from $5,600.

Empty-leg availability on the 100EV is strongest in Europe, particularly out of Portuguese, Spanish, Swiss and German operators who use the aircraft heavily for short-haul relocation. Flexible clients can typically find one-way relocation legs at 45–55 percent of confirmed charter pricing.

Operating economics are best-in-class for a certified twinjet: approximately 100 gallons per hour of Jet A, single-pilot operation, and comparatively low airframe maintenance costs. Direct operating cost sits around $1,050–$1,400 per flight hour excluding capital, which is what allows operators to price the aircraft competitively against turboprops on regional missions.

Against the Citation M2 Gen2, the 100EV wins on cabin width and height, on lavatory quality (fully enclosed vs curtained) and on cabin design polish; the M2 wins on range (1,550 nm vs 1,178 nm), on service network depth, and on availability in the US. On charter rate the two are essentially at parity — the choice usually comes down to which aircraft the operator has available at the time.

Against the HondaJet Elite II, the 100EV offers a modestly larger cabin and enclosed lavatory; the HondaJet wins on speed (Mach 0.72 vs 0.70), on cabin noise (over-the-wing engines are quieter), and on Garmin Autoland safety. Cost is similar.

Against the Citation Mustang and Eclipse 550, the 100EV is meaningfully better equipped in every dimension that matters — cabin, avionics, range, comfort — at a modest premium in hourly rate. For charter clients the 100EV is almost always the more sensible choice unless price is the single overriding constraint.

Against a step up to the Phenom 300E, the 100EV gives up 900 nm of range, four seats of capacity and 40 knots of speed in exchange for roughly 30 percent lower hourly cost. On short hops the 100EV is the right answer; on anything two hours or longer, the 300E pays back.

The Embraer Phenom 100EV is the right aircraft for three or four passengers on short European or US regional missions who value a larger, more refined cabin than any other very-light jet offers, and who want the reassurance of an enclosed lavatory on flights over an hour. Its natural clients are executives on 60–120 minute city-pair sectors, families ferrying to short-runway leisure destinations and cost-sensitive charter clients who would otherwise settle for a turboprop or a smaller VLJ.

It is not the right aircraft for six-passenger groups (an Oval Lite cabin still only sleeps four properly), for multi-hour missions (a Phenom 300 or CJ4 pays back many times over) or for clients whose itineraries include intercontinental routing. On its target missions, however, the 100EV is arguably the most complete very-light jet on the market — the aircraft that quietly beats every other VLJ on cabin, and that ties or beats them on everything else.

Limitless Sky sources the Phenom 100EV through European fractional and Part-NCC operators as well as US Part 135 fleets. Contact charter@thelimitlesssky.com with your intended sectors and we will return an all-inclusive quote within the hour.