Embraer Phenom 300EV: what Autoland certification means

On 25 August 2026 Embraer announced triple certification for the Phenom 300EV: ANAC in Brazil, the FAA in the United States and EASA in Europe approved the type in one package. Corporate Jet Investor and AeroTime reported it the same day — the first light business jet certified with Garmin Emergency Autoland. Flying Magazine carried the manufacturer's wording: the largest business jet with the system to date. Deliveries are expected from 2028, according to Corporate Jet Investor.

Here is what sits behind the announcement for an owner: what the system does in flight, why three certificates were taken at once, how the decision lands on the used Phenom 300 market, and what is worth checking today, two years ahead of the first delivery.

What happened

Exact performance figures for the EV variant and the full list of changes against the 300E enhanced — range, maximum speed, takeoff weight, avionics fit — were not published on the day of certification. Those follow in a separate piece once the type flight manual is out.

For reference, here are the confirmed numbers for the base aircraft, the Phenom 300E enhanced.

What Emergency Autoland does

The system covers one scenario: the pilot is incapacitated and the people left on board cannot fly the aircraft.

Once activated, the automation flies the rest of the trip. It selects a suitable airport, builds a route to it accounting for fuel remaining, weather and terrain, transmits on the air traffic control frequency, performs the approach, the landing, the braking to a full stop and the engine shutdown. The passenger presses a button and stops there.

A conventional ICAO category autoland brings the aircraft to the runway and hands it back to the crew. Here the scenario is closed end to end, including the stop on the runway and the communication with the ground.

Selection criteria for the diversion field and the limits on use are written into the type flight manual. No public edition of the 300EV manual existed on the day of certification, so the operating conditions are read in the document that arrives with the aircraft.

The technology has a track record. FAA approval for Autoland on the Cirrus Vision Jet came in August 2020, reported at the time by Aviation International News; the system has since been fitted to turboprop types and single-engine personal jets. In the light jet class it arrives for the first time. In December 2025 the same outlet covered a real event: a King Air B200 landed safely after Garmin Emergency Autoland activated.

Why three certificates at once

A business jet lives in several jurisdictions at the same time: registered in one country, based in a second, flying a network across a third. A type approved only by the manufacturer's home regulator needs validation in every following registry — months of calendar time and legal work. Simultaneous approval by ANAC, the FAA and EASA removes that question for the three largest regulators in the world. Three practical consequences follow.

Freedom of registry. The registration jurisdiction gets chosen on tax, import and maintenance logic, with type recognition off the agenda.

Speed of remarketing. An aircraft recognised across three systems moves to the next owner inside any of them without an extra procedure. On an asset held five to seven years that is money at the exit.

One basis for insurer and lessor. Risk assessment is built on a single documentation package.

What changes for an owner

The single-pilot conversation becomes concrete. The Phenom 300 is certified for single-pilot operation, while owner practice runs two-pilot more often: insurers, corporate policy and long legs all ask for the second seat. Emergency Autoland covers precisely the risk that second seat is justified by — sudden incapacitation of the sole pilot. How that lands on insurance rates will show in the first years of service.

An argument for passengers. An owner who flies family regularly hits the same question about trusting a light jet with one pilot. A button that brings the aircraft to a runway answers it more plainly than any presentation.

A long-horizon asset. Deliveries start in 2028. An aircraft bought then gets remarketed in the early 2030s, by which point an emergency landing system will read as expected in the class. Types without one will start trading at a discount. The market has been through this with ADS-B Out and FANS: option first, requirement next, deduction from the price at sale after that.

What happens to the aircraft selling today

Two years sit between the announcement and the first delivery. The market runs on the existing fleet throughout.

Prices are to my knowledge, from open listings as of August 2026.

Type liquidity rests on fleet size and transaction count, and a new version leaves that intact: eleven consecutive years first in light jet deliveries, more than 700 aircraft by February 2023, a NetJets order for up to 100. Service, parts and type-rated pilots exist in any part of the world.

Retrofitting an early aircraft to Emergency Autoland is off the table: the system is tied to the avionics fit and the aircraft systems configuration, which makes it a factory decision at type design level. The generational gap will settle into price the way the gap between Prodigy on Garmin G1000 and Prodigy Touch on G3000 settled in.

That gives a practical calculation. Holding horizon up to five years — buy from the market now, since no discount forms on these grounds two years ahead of first deliveries. Horizon of seven years and more — build into the exit model an allowance for a fleet of aircraft with an emergency landing system, which will be substantial by the early 2030s.

What to check when choosing a Phenom 300 today

The variant designation in the records. The difference between 300, 300E and 300E enhanced is avionics, engine thrust and maximum speed. Read the designation in the logbooks; the word Phenom in a listing says nothing.

Cycles separately from hours. The airframe is rated for 28,000 cycles. An aircraft that flew its hours on short legs has consumed several times the cycles of an aircraft with the same time in the air on long routes.

Engine programme status. An aircraft outside an hourly cost programme loses, to my knowledge, $500–800K at sale on this type. The overhaul risk then sits with the owner in full.

Connectivity. Early aircraft have no Wi-Fi. Fitting Gogo Avance runs $200–350K to my knowledge — add that to the price of an early example before comparing options.

Conclusion

Triple certification of the Phenom 300EV closes two questions at once: the technical bar in the light class and freedom of registry. For an owner that means an aircraft easier to insure, easier to fly family on, and easier to sell in any of the three largest jurisdictions. The price is waiting until 2028 and a slot in the delivery queue. While the queue runs, the used market works: thirty listings and the most predictable exit in the class.

Figures in this article are market benchmarks and manufacturer data as of August 2026. The specification and cost of a specific aircraft are calculated from its own records, hours, cycles and configuration.

Alexander Filimonov, business aviation