Embraer negotiating $495 million aircraft sale to Surf Air: paper

[October 24, 2016]  BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's Embraer, the world's third-largest commercial planemaker, is negotiating an order with Surf Air of California for up to 50 Phenom 300 executive jets worth $495 million, the Valor Economico newspaper reported on Monday.

A man walks past a replica of Embraer's Phenom 300 jet at the "Extravaganza 2008 Show" in Mumbai February 23, 2008. REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe

Surf Air, a U.S. business aviation company based in Santa Monica, plans to expand its services to Europe in mid-2017 and needs a larger fleet to reach that goal, its CEO Simon Talling-Smith told the newspaper.

He said Surf Air is also talking to U.S. aircraft maker Textron, with an eye on its Cessna Citation CJ4 corporate jets.

The Embraer Phenom 300 is a light business jet that can carry 7 to 9 passengers and is Embraer's biggest selling executive aircraft, though current weak demand for business jets has been dragging on Embraer's results.

Embraer was not available for immediate comment.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; editing by Jason Neely)

[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.