Flying on the Embraer Lineage 1000E Executive Jet
It is not every day that one has the privilege of flying on one of the largest and most advanced executive jets that are out there in the market.
On this occasion, Embraer was ferrying a Legacy 1000E from Brazil to Geneva, via Le Bourget, in order to display it at the EBACE private jet show, and they were kind enough to invite a bunch of us to get onboard and experience it.
Starting point: Le Bourget
Meeting point was, thus, Le Bourget, a place I had visited before for the Paris Air Show.
This time, Paris' executive airport looked rather calm and quite, nothing like during the show. Thus, no flying displays this time, but we did enjoy some amazing cloud displays, though!
The wake up call was rather early, 6am, but well worth it!
The hotel was right to the executive aviation terminal, so it was a matter of minutes from bed to cabin!
After a quick pass through the executive terminal, we met the beautiful Lineage 1000E that would take us to Geneva, a flight about an hour long.
The Aircraft
From the outside, the Embraer Lineage 1000E may look familiar to many frequent flyers, and this is because, in fact, is the executive version of the popular E-190 airliner, used by many airlines around the World, the likes of British Airways, Finnair, Alitalia...
The two main differences between the Lineage 1000E and its commercial counterpart: larger fuel tanks and, of course, the cabin interior.
One of the strong selling points (in its category) of the Embraer Lineage 1000E is its wide, spacious cabin, don't forget that, after all, this is the same cabin that fits around 100 people in its airliner version!
Embraer's approach here is that the Lineage 1000E can provide you levels of comfort similar to those of a larger VIP airliner such as the Airbus ACJ or Boeing BBJ but at a lower price point, while giving you a more spacious cabin than a Gulfstream G650 or a Bombardier Global.
True, at 4,500nm, it may lack the ultra-long range of the latter, but Embraer asserts that the Lineage has enough range to cover the most transited executive aviation routes in the World. The extra space and comfort may be more than enough to compensate for the occasional refueling stop, when needed. "Many executive jet users also enjoy stopping en route for shopping, business meetings or staying at a nice hotel, so we see range as being adequate for most of the user case scenarios" highlights an Embraer representative onboard the flight.
In the following video you can enjoy a walk through the Lineage 1000E while in flight:
Revolutionary Cabin Design Concepts
One of the most interesting aspects of the Lineage 1000E is how Embraer's design team is coming up with really, really unique, artsy, cabin interior concepts.
While most executive jets have a rather posh, but dull, corporate-looking type of interior, with a dominance of pale and creamy tones throughout, think again!
Embraer's design team is turning out some jaw-dropping creative concept designs for the Lineage's interior, with "themed-cabins" aiming at specific potential customer profiles.
There is a "Kyoto" concept with Japanese-style minimalist design and lateral oversized panoramic windows.
There is also a "Skyranch" concept for Western-US oil billionaires and the "Skyacht", "Manhattan" and "Hollywood" ones that take inspiration from the Art-Déco years in the early decades of the 20th Century...
The result is the sort of "Wow!" effect that leaves no one indifferent. And, as Embraer hopes, the sort of "must-have" uniqueness that may appeal to billionaires that have already pretty much everything else money can buy.
But what best than have Embraer's chief executive jet interior designer explain in first person, this creative approach to cabin interior design:
On my piece on AirInsight you can find some additional details about Embraer's original executive jet cabin concepts.
But, switching back to the Lineage 1000E experience, the flight was smooth as silk...there is little more to add here!
Landed on time in Geneva after a short but productive flight that gave us a glimpse of what art and creativity can bring about when applied to the field of executive aviation!