Since entering service in 2002, the Embraer Legacy 600 has proven to be one of the best private jets to have ever entered service, being loved both by the pilots who fly it, and the people who fly on it!
Embraer would produce almost 300 Legacy 600s over the course of an 18 year period, making one of the bestselling private jets of the 21st century…
Pre-Embraer Legacy 600
Over the course of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, airlines began to increase prices for business and first class, on their highest demand business and tourism routes. This got to a point, where it was only slightly more expensive to fly private!
Thanks to this, many of the world’s 1% began to buy private jets, to the point where they were operating 40 year old jets that were wholly fuel inefficient. At one point, almost all operable business jets were being used.
But still, there weren’t enough jets.
As such, people began to buy retired airliners, ranging from turboprops to small jets (like the 737) to retired 747s! Here, they would rip out its airline interior and replace it with a luxury interior.
But still, there weren’t enough jets.
Capitalizing on this, several aircraft manufacturers began to develop brand new business jets, such as the Learjet 40/45, Challenger 850, Global 5000, Gulfstream G550 and Hawker 4000.
Whilst this did help to alleviate the issue, there still weren’t enough jets.
Seeing this, commercial aircraft manufacturers started their own line of private jets, such as Boeing’s Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) program, and Airbus’s Airbus Corporate Jet (ACJ) program.
Emboldened, smaller commercial aircraft manufacturers like Brazil’s Embraer, began to research the possibility of having a corporate jet variant of their famed ERJ line of jet-powered regional jets.
Development
Embraer’s research would yield positive results, showing that there would be sufficient demand for a business jet variant of the ERJ-135 (the shortest and most fuel efficient member of the ERJ family).
However, Embraer’s research had also shown that the ERJ-135 would need significant upgrades if it wanted to effectively compete with Bombardier’s Challenger series and the Falcon 2000. Primarily, this was to do with range and fuel efficiency.
To extend the range, Embraer engineers added extra fuel tanks behind the baggage compartment and just in front of the wings. To make the aircraft more fuel efficient, Embraer engineers added winglets to the end of the wings…
On top of this, Embraer engineers would embark on a huge drag reduction program, which would see large portions of the aircraft’s wing and forward fuselage be redesigned to be far more fuel efficient than the ERJ-135’s.
Embraer would launch what it called the Legacy 2000 at the 2000 Farnborough Airshow. Here, they would receive numerous orders for the Legacy 2000, who would eventually become the type’s first operators.
For branding purposes, the Embraer Legacy 2000 would be rebranded as the Embraer Legacy 600 in 2005, a name it has had ever since!
In 2009, after seeing the success of the Legacy 600, Embraer would announce a business jet version of their larger ERJ-145, which they called the Legacy 650.
Service History
Embraer would first fly the Legacy 600 on March 31 2001, before entering service in February the following year. From here, it would go on to have a rather interesting service history!
Corporate Jet
When Embraer first revealed the Legacy 600 at the 2000 Farnborough Airshow, they initially marketed it towards businessmen and corporations as a corporate/business jet.
In this role, it was meant to transport the CEO and other C-Suite executives (and occasionally their families!) whilst they were on official business, whilst also allowing them to work during the flight.
Due to this, many of the Legacy 600’s first operators were Fortune 500 companies and/or the billionaires who own them. Here, these jets fly differing amounts each month according to how much they’re needed in that particular month.
Thanks to the Legacy 600’s size, most corporate operators of the Legacy 600 can use it for both long-haul and short-haul flights. However, most corporate operators tend to use the Legacy 600 on long-haul routes more than short-haul ones.
Sadly, many corporations don’t want the general public to know that they own a corporate jet (mostly to avoid obvious displays of wealth). As a result, most Legacy 600s are owned by anonymous corporations or people who seemingly don’t exist.
Private Jet
Although the jet was initially marketed to corporate flyers, the Embraer Legacy 600 has become a favorite of private jet operators too, mostly for the jet’s famed comfort and above-average range.
Sadly, many of these operators are celebrities, who are flying on a private jet in order to not get mobbed by fans and/or the paparazzi. As such, almost all of these jets are held anonymously to help this.
With that being said, several celebrities have used the Embraer Legacy 600 as their own private jet.
By far the most famous of these celebrities is Portuguese sports star, Cristiano Ronaldo. Although he now owns his own Gulfstream G650, he previously flew on a chartered Legacy 600.
However, Ronaldo isn’t the only celebrity operator of the Legacy 600. For a long time, American pop band, Maroon 5, have operated a Legacy 600 as their band’s private jet, which they’ve often used on tours.
Alongside Ronaldo and Maroon 5, is F1 driver Sergio Pérez, who was quite famous for travelling on an Embraer Legacy 600 alongside his management team and key members of his entourage when flying on long-haul routes!
Whilst they are most famous people to fly on the jet, it isn’t just celebrities who choose to operate the Legacy 600 as a private jet. So do people who are wealthy in their own right, mostly due to the fact that flying private is often more practical than first class.
Charter
Thanks to the Embraer Legacy 600’s success as both a corporate and private jet, a large number of major executive charter airlines have acquired the jet and have begun offering charter flights on the jet.
Looking on their websites, many of these executive charter airlines market the Legacy 600 as the sort of jet you want to charter if you’re looking to transport a few high-net worth individuals and their families over long distances.
This is mostly due to the jet being able to travel on most transatlantic routes whilst having the capacity to transport the same amount of people as your average family (eg. grandparents, parents, children and greatgrandchildren.)
With that being said, many of these executive charter airlines also market the Legacy 600 as the jet you’d want to use if you were traveling over a short distance where traveling in style is a necessity.
This itself, is due to the Legacy 600’s spacious cabin and the fact that Embraer designed the Legacy 600 to be at the height of luxury and as a power symbol, two things it still is almost 20 years after it was introduced into service!
Although it varies from executive charter airline to executive charter airline, time of year and route, it costs anywhere from $5,500 to $6,700 per hour to charter an Embraer Legacy 600.
Fractional Ownership
However, it isn’t just executive charter airlines that have seen the Legacy 600’s success as a corporate and private jet. So have fractional ownership companies. Much like executive charter airlines, they too have bought the Legacy 600.
For many of these companies, they have brought brand new or second-hand Legacy 600s with the intention of selling differing percentages of the aircraft to different people, for example selling three people a 1/3 share or eight people a 1/8 share.
With this, these “owners” are entitled to fly the jet for a certain number of hours per year. Here, the owners have to pay for the flight’s direct costs (such as fuel and airport fees), with the fractional ownership company supplying trained pilots.
The fractional ownership company will also handle all aircraft maintenance, splitting the cost at the end of each year between the various owners, who then foot the bill.
Currently, the cost to acquire a fraction of an Embraer Legacy 600 varies drastically depending on the fractional ownership company you buy from and the size of the fraction you own. After all, a 1/8 share will be cheaper than a 1/3 share!
Fractional ownership companies also charge a fee for providing the pilots and the aircraft themselves. Whilst these vary from company to company, they range anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000 per month.
Military
As with many other private jets, the Embraer Legacy 600 has proven to be quite adept at being a military transport aircraft, as well as a luxury private jet!
Currently, two Legacy 600s are used by the Brazilian Air Force as VVIP transport aircraft, under the designation VC-99. Whilst not the primary or secondary aircraft, these aircraft often serve as the Brazilian Air Force One.
For the most part, the Brazilian president and the other leaders of Brazil tend to use the A319ACJ or the Lineage 1000 for their trips. However, these aircraft are quite large, and are thus quite expensive to operate per hour.
This is especially so on medium-haul and short-haul routes. In order to save on fuel costs, as well as be more practical, the Brazilian Air Force operate two Legacy 600s as short-haul presidential transports.
When they aren’t doing this, they are usually flying around high-ranking military personnel or mid-ranking politicians, much like the Gulfstream C-37 does for the US government.
With that being said, they are due to be phased out as backup Brazilian Air Force Ones, when the Brazilian Air Force’s two Phenom 100s are delivered.
After this, the Legacy 600s are expected to solely be used as transports for high ranking military officials.
Features
Compared to its competitors, the Embraer Legacy 600 is far skinnier, being only 6 feet 11 inches (211 cm) compared to its competitors’ average of 7 feet 4 inches (224 cm).
With that being said, the Legacy 600 has the longest cabin in its class by a long shot. The average jet in its class has a cabin that’s 35 feet (10.67 m) long, whilst the Legacy 600’s cabin is 49 feet 10 inches (15.19 m) long.
By comparison the Legacy 600 has a baggage area that’s almost 50% larger than most of its competitors. For the Challenger 605, it’s actually double the size (plus an extra 10% or so too!)
When compared to its competitors, the Legacy 600 needs a much shorter runway than its competitors, being able to takeoff from a runway that’s 5,614 feet (1,711 m) long, compared to the class average of 5,659 feet (1,725 m).
However, the Embraer Legacy 600 does require a mildly longer runway to land on. The Legacy 600 requires a runway that’s roughly 2,685 feet (818 m) long, compared to the class average of 2543 feet (775 m).
That being said, the Legacy 600 is far quieter than its competitors, allowing it to be one of the few large business jets that can be flown to many noise restricted airports that its competitors simply can’t be flown to!
Price
Up until only very recently, you could buy a brand new Legacy 600 from Embraer for $25 million. However, since stopping production in mid-March 2020, the only place to buy the Legacy 600 is on the secondary market.
As of the time of writing, there are several Legacy 600s on the secondary market, most of which are older variants built in the early to mid 2000’s. Currently, the average price of a used Embraer Legacy 600 is around $7 million.
For older Legacy 600s, built in the 2000’s, the average jet currently retails for between $4.5 and $5.5 million depending mostly on their flight hours and the year they were built in.
For newer Legacy 600s, built in the 2010’s, the average jet currently retails for anywhere from $6 million to around $7.5 million, mostly depending on how recently they were built.
In terms of cost to operate, the Embraer Legacy 600 is actually surprisingly fuel efficient. On paper, it classes it as a large jet, however, has economics akin to that of a mid-sized or super mid-sized jet!
Assuming you were to fly the jet for 400 hours per year, it would cost roughly $4,461 per hour to operate the Legacy 600, far cheaper than the $5,200 per hour to operate the Challenger 600, or $5,300 per hour for the Falcon 900!
Specifications
| Specifications | Embraer Legacy 600 |
|---|---|
| Length | 26.33 m (86 ft 5 in) |
| Wingspan | 21.17 m (68 ft 11 in) |
| Height | 6.76 m (22 ft 2 in) |
| Crew | 2 |
| Passengers | 13 |
| Cruise Speed | 0.78 Mach (829 km/h; 515 mph; 448 kn) |
| Range | 6,297 km (3,913 mi; 3,400 nmi) |
| Service Ceiling | 12,500 m (41,000 ft) |
| MTOW | 22,500 kg (49,604 lb) |
How Safe is The Embraer Legacy 600?
When you look at which aircraft are the safest and which are the most dangerous, you’ll find that pretty everyone seems to focus solely on commercial aircraft like the A320 and 747.
Private jets, on the other hand, are often left off these lists. For the most part, this is done deliberately, after all, the sad fact is that only a small percentage of the world’s population will ever fly on a private jet like the Legacy 600.
However, for those who plan to fly on the Embraer Legacy 600, you are probably curious as to how safe/dangerous the Legacy 600 is…
To date, almost 200 Legacy 600s have been built, with only one having ever been involved in an accident.
In September 2006, a brand new Legacy 600 was being flown from the Embraer factory in Brazil, to its operator based in the US, when it collided with a Gol 737-800 mid-air.
Although the Legacy 600 suffered serious damage to its left horizontal stabilizer and winglet, the pilot would be able to land the jet safely at a nearby Brazilian Air Force base, without any injuries or fatalities.
However, the 737-800 wouldn’t be as lucky, with almost the entire left wing being sheared off. This caused the 737 to enter a tailspin, which caused the fuselage to breakup, killing all those on board the 737-800.
Later investigation would find that the Legacy 600’s crew failed to activate the traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS), whilst ATC failed to warn both aircraft of the other’s flight path. Due to this, Embraer fired the Legacy 600’s entire crew.
Thankfully, this crew now no longer works with aircraft of any kind, with Legacy 600 crews making sure to double-check that TCAS is enabled. This means that this accident should never be repeated.
What’s it Like to Fly on The Embraer Legacy 600?
Over the course of writing this article, I have had the good fortune to fly on several Embraer Legacy 600s. And I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the jet actually was!
I’ve flown on the ERJ-135 and ERJ-145 on several occasions, but I haven’t ever been that impressed with the aircraft, so when I was going to fly on the Legacy 600, I thought it too would be underwhelming. How wrong I was…
Compared to many of its competitors, the Legacy 600 is far more spacious. Even when the cabin is full, you can still walk past everyone without having shimmy past everyone as I’ve found on other jets.
Despite the oldest Legacy 600s being almost 20 years old, the jet is surprisingly modern, with almost all aspects of the cabin being firmly in the 21st century, including the entertainment systems, WIFI and seat comfort.
By far my favorite aspect of the Legacy 600 was the seating itself. Embraer interior designers have laid it out in such a way that the seats can be converted into beds if you’re flying long-haul routes (or just want a quick nap!)
However, from a pilot’s point of view, the cockpit is slightly outdated, with the cockpit only being partially all-glass. With that being said, many operators have bought the Mark I upgrade which comes with an all-glass cockpit.
What do you think of the Embraer Legacy 600? Have you ever flown on it? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Dave Montiverdi via Flickr.