Praetor power: 62% surge in executive jet demand lifts Embraer to record $30bn backlog
July 22, 2025
Embraer has finished the second quarter of the year in commanding style. The Brazilian planemaker delivered 30% more aircraft than it did in Q2 last year, and ended the quarter with a record backlog of almost $30 billion.
The current backlog across all Embraer divisions stands at $29.7 billion, the highest level ever recorded by the company. It’s up more than $3 billion since the end of Q1 2025, when it stood at $26.4 billion.
Its commercial aviation division now has the highest backlog it has seen in eight years, reaching $13.1 billion. The Defence and Security division has doubled its outstanding orders to $4.3 billion, while Sales & Services boosted its backlog 55% to $4.9 billion.
The standout performance, however, came from Executive Aviation, which surged ahead with a 41% year-on-year uptick in deliveries. The division has increased its backlog by 62% year on year to $7.4 billion, and is in a great position to add to that as demand in the super midsize market continues to grow.
Embraer Executive sees increased demand for midsize private jets
Embraer has turned up the heat on its executive jet production, delivering 11 more business jets in Q2 than in the same quarter last year. Looking at the first half, Embraer’s deliveries are up 36% compared with 2024.
Driving this uptick is a big push in the midsize private jet segment – home of the Praetor – with 10 more aircraft delivered than in Q2 2024, an increase of 143%. Of the 17 aircraft delivered, nine were Praetor 600s and eight Praetor 500s.
Over the half year, 26 midsize executive jets have been delivered, compared with 14 in 2024. Almost 60% of those are the Praetor 600.
The 600 has found homes with many owners, but none quite so comitted as US fractional ownership specialist Flexjet. The company signed a landmark $7 billion deal for a mix of Embraer jets in February, including more Praetors.
The Praetor advantage: A market ‘sweet spot’
The Honeywell Global Business Aviation Outlook noted increasing demand in the super-midsize segment, in which Embraer’s Praetor 600 comfortably sits. Medium jets, which include super midsize aircraft, are expected to make up a third of all deliveries over the next decade.
These aircraft are in the Goldilocks zone of business aviation; neither too big nor too small, with comfort and range but without the ultra-premium price tag of large private jets.
The Praetor 600 delivers plenty of appeal. For a start, there’s the impressive 4,018 nm range, among the best in class. It surpasses the Challenger 3500 (3,400 nm), Citation Longitude (3,500 nm), and Gulfstream G280 (3,600 nm).
Embraer’s largest business jet also comes with fiscal advantages, typically having a lower acquisiton cost than the Gulfstream or Bombardier. Operationally, it’s one of the cheapest jets to fly in its class, and the only one with full fly-by-wire control.
While it’s not produced in Phenom-like volumes, it consistently ranks third in most-sold super midsize, behind Bombardier’s Challenger and Cessna’s Citation. With faster production, it could move up the table.
For years, Embraer has been scaling up its production through lean manufacturing, digital tools, optimised facilities, and strong supplier management. As noted, this ‘quiet efficiency’ approach has already enabled a 41% increase in Q2 executive jet deliveries year-on-year, with more growth expected through H2 2025.
Embraer noted that its 61 deliveries are a significant increase over the average for this time of year, with 41% of its 2025 target already delivered. This is eight percentage points higher than the average 32% of target recorded over the past five years.
A lot of love for Embraer’s light jets
The light jets have seen more modest growth, An impressive 21 Phenoms were handed over in Q2, one more than the same period last year. Over the half, Embraer delivered an additional four light jets compared to 2024, for a total of 35.
The larger Phenom 300 remains Embraer’s best-selling small private jet, accounting for 80% of the light jet deliveries in Q2. Indeed, it’s the most delivered light business jet in the world, and has been for 12 consecutive years.
Embraer Executive posted a backlog of $7.4 billion at the end of the quarter, and maintains its guidance of 144 – 155 aircraft delivered by the end of 2025.
Embraer Commercial sells its 1,000th E175
The commercial aviation division reached its highest backlog in years at $13.1 billion, only eclipsed by the backlog in Q4, 2017, when it reached $13.4 billion.
Notably, a 60-aircraft order from SkyWest saw the smallest E-Jet, the E175, reach 1,000 orders since its launch 20 years ago. SAS joined the E2 crew with an order for 45 E195-E2 aircraft, the largest placed by the airline in 30 years.
Embraer is working to scale up production of its commercial aircraft, and is investing in what it calls ‘production levelling.’ The planemaker says it expects to see more ‘tangible results’ from this effort by the start of 2026.
The defence arm of Embraer ended the quarter with a backlog of $4.3 billion, double the level seen a year ago.
