Embraer Legacy 600/650: how it differs from its rivals

In the large class the Legacy stands apart by its origins: the airframe came from the ERJ-135 regional airliner, while its neighbours in the segment were built from scratch as business jets. Every principal difference of the type follows from that — the strengths and the limits alike. I go through five things the Legacy does differently, and three where it gives ground to the Challenger, the Falcon and the Gulfstream.

How the type looks next to its neighbours

The book figures come from the catalogue, to my information. Legacy 600/650 — a cabin of around 12.9 × 2.10 × 1.82 m in three zones, a ceiling of 12,000 m; Challenger 604 — a cabin around 8.7 m long, 2.41 m wide, 1.83 m high, a ceiling of 12,497 m; Falcon 900 — a cross-section of 2.34 × 1.88 m, shared across the 900/2000/7X family, a ceiling of 15,500 m; G450 — a ceiling of 13,716 m; Praetor 600 — a cabin of 8.18 × 2.08 × 1.83 m with a flat floor, a ceiling of 13,716 m. All of it from the catalogue data. Before any of it is signed off, the cabin cross-section is looked at in person, on the particular aircraft.

Full specifications and matching are on the model card. The book figures for both versions are in the Legacy 600/650 specifications, and the price corridor and cost of ownership in the piece on what a Legacy 600/650 costs.

Difference one: a cabin in three zones

The airliner fuselage gives length, and the Legacy spends it on zones: a club section forward, a middle zone with a table or a divan, a rest area aft — three separate spaces with different working scenarios, 13 to 14 seats. Challenger 604 layouts run to 9–12 seats, the Praetor 600 to 8–12.

The practical sense of it appears in the make-up of the group. Twelve people in one space sit as a single company and hear one another. The same twelve in three zones divide into a conference area, working seats and rest. On a five-hour leg those are different flights.

Difference two: airliner origins as an asset

The ERJ-135 underneath gives three things that count as money.

Airframe margin. The structure was designed for intensive regional operation with frequent cycles. A business jet does not work its way up to the same bar on cycles.

Service network. The Rolls-Royce AE 3007 engines are installed on regional ERJs, the fleet across the family is large and spread around the world. For a type that left production in 2020, the availability of components and of service stations weighs more than any book figure.

Cost per flight hour. Relatively low for the large class — a direct consequence of airliner proportions and of two engines instead of three, as on the Falcon 900.

Difference three: the entry price into fourteen seats

A pre-owned Legacy 600 starts at around $3.5 million, to my information. For that money the buyer gets a large-class aircraft with fourteen seats and a cabin in three zones.

The nearest neighbours by entry price are the early Challenger 600/601 at a median around $1.5 million and the pre-owned Challenger 604 at a median around $6 million, to my information. Layouts there run to 9–12 seats.

A late Legacy 650 reaches $20 million on the pre-owned market, to my information, and by then it competes with the Challenger 605 (median around $12.4 million) and the pre-owned Falcon 900 (from $8.8 million).

Difference four: how common the type is in Russia and the CIS

The type worked widely with charter operators and with state structures around the world, Russia and the CIS included. For a buyer from the region that means three practical things: crews with a rating on the type can be found, the engineering is familiar to service organisations, and the history of a particular aircraft can be traced through known operators.

With types that were almost absent from the region, every one of those points turns into a separate project with its own budget and its own timescale.

Difference five: two versions under one name

In the listings the Legacy 600 and the Legacy 650 look like variants of one machine. On the documents they are different aircraft.

The gain in range on the Legacy 650 comes from the additional tanks and the more powerful engines. For a route network the range is taken from the flight manual of the particular aircraft with your payload and your reserve, and after that the headwind and the alternates on the leg are calculated.

The final version, the Legacy 650E of 2017, added updated avionics, cabin finish and a ten-year factory warranty.

Where the Legacy gives ground

Cabin cross-section. The airliner airframe gives length, and with that length the Legacy makes up for the cross-section: in cabin width and height the type sits below the Challenger 604 and the Falcon 900, the figures are above in the text. For four people at one table the cross-section weighs more than the length of the aisle, and it has to be looked at in person, before the deposit.

Speed and range. 829 km/h is the lower boundary of the large class: the Challenger 604 and 605 run at 850 km/h, the Praetor 600 at 863, the Falcon 900 at 900. On range the Falcon 900 with its 8,800 km and the G450 with its 8,056 km go noticeably ahead.

Production closed. The type left production in 2020, with 289 aircraft of the family delivered in all. The factory warranty on pre-owned machines has run out, and the niche was taken by the Praetor 600 and the Praetor 500. A narrow fleet also means a longer way out of the asset on resale; how that is calculated is in the piece on time on the market.

Who the type suits

The task that calls for a Legacy 650 looks like this: a group of ten to fourteen people flying regularly, legs that fit inside the book figure of 7,200 km, separate zones in the cabin for meetings and for rest, and an entry budget held below that of contemporaries with a purpose-built business airframe.

The task for a Legacy 600: the same fourteen seats and the same cabin at the minimum entry price into the large class, with shorter legs — the book range of the 600 is lower.

The Challenger 604 and 605 win on speed and on the avionics of the later machines: the 605 carries Pro Line 21. The Falcon 900 takes range at 8,800 km and speed at 900 km/h, and the payment for it is three sets of engine work. The G450 gives 8,056 km and sixteen seats at a heavier annual budget. The Praetor 600 offers a young fleet and the support of the manufacturer.

Beyond that the particular aircraft decides: the version letter in the records, hours and cycles as separate figures, the time remaining on each engine, the status of the hourly cost programmes, the avionics fit and the year of the last cabin refurbishment. The list of questions for the seller is in a separate article on what to ask before the conversation about price.

The figures and the timescales in this article are reference points for the type, to my information. The specifications of a particular aircraft are taken from its flight manual, and the price is calculated from its documents.

Alexander Filimonov — business aviation: sourcing, purchase and entry into service of aircraft.

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