An original Embraer Phenom 300 at Bremerton, Washington, in 2012. · Photo: Thornfield Hall via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Embraer · Light Jet
Phenom 300 (original)
The first version of Embraer's Phenom 300, the line that became the best-selling light jet.
The original Phenom 300 does the light-jet job well: a roomy cabin, a real enclosed lavatory and a big bag hold. It scores typical for its class, with aging avionics and a costly 10-year inspection to price in.
Buy it if
You fly four to seven people on trips of up to about 1,700 nm, want a proper lavatory and room for bags, and value a big support network and a well-proven design.
Skip it if
You need coast-to-coast nonstop range, operate mostly from short or wet runways where thrust reversers would help, or want the newest cockpit and cabin technology without paying for upgrades.
Biggest compromise
Many original jets carry Garmin's first-generation G1000 cockpit, which cannot be converted to the touchscreen system, and every airframe faces a 10-year inspection with landing gear overhaul that shops quote at $250,000–300,000 before findings. Know where each jet sits in that cycle before you make an offer.
The numbers that matter
What it costs per year
$1.27M
at 300 hrs · two professional pilots
How far it flies
1,971 nm
1,811–1,903 nm with passengers
How fast
453 kt
high-speed cruise
Seats
7
7 typical (up to 9 in the cabin)
Pilots needed
1
Certified for one pilot with the required equipment; fleet operators such as NetJets fly two.
Price
What one costs to buy
Typical asking price
$0
Other sites
Priced vs call
with a price / call for price
Only one of seven advertised jets shows a whole-aircraft price: a 2012 at $8.5 million, reported sale pending. Newer 300E models ask $12.5–14.4 million.
Price vs its family and alternatives
Scroll to explore · select a jet for details
For sale now
None listed right now
Cost to own
What it costs per year to run
300hours / year
Per year
Per flight hour
Estimate — your operator will quote actual numbers.
Fuel, airframe maintenance, engine program and trip costs rise as you fly more. Two professional pilots, recurrent training, hangar, insurance, management and subscriptions, databases and tracking stay the same however much you fly.
Where the money goes
- Two professional pilots$390,39031%
- Recurrent training$38,1603%
- Hangar$37,7303%
- Insurance$36,5503%
- Management$24,0002%
- Subscriptions, databases and tracking$10,1591%
- Fuel$398,11231%
- Airframe maintenance$120,6009%
- Engine program$174,45014%
- Trip costs$44,7154%
Fuel is the biggest single cost at 31% of the total.
The JetGrade
70 out of 100 — Typical for its class
Peer group: Cessna Citation CJ4 (525C, original), Learjet 75, Cessna Citation CJ3+ (525B), Pilatus PC-24
Seven categories at a glance
- - - 70 = typical— This aircraft
Strongest on reliability & support, weakest on range & payload.
Grades are editorial opinions about the model, not any specific aircraft. Sponsors and affiliates have no input. Reviewed 2026-09-29.
Where it flies
Sample trips and reach
Typical trips on a map
Nonstop
Depends on weight or weather
Fuel stop likely
Out of reach
5 of 8 sample trips are comfortable nonstops.
Sample flight times
- 0.9 hr
Carlsbad → Las Vegas
205 nm · Short hop, well within range
- 1.9 hr
Carlsbad → Aspen
625 nm · Mountain airport; depends on weight and weather
- 2.2 hr
Santa Ana → San José del Cabo
765 nm · Comfortably within range with four passengers
- 2.5 hr
Teterboro → West Palm Beach
900 nm · Classic East Coast run, easily nonstop
- 3.2 hr
Dallas → Teterboro
1,190 nm · Nonstop with four passengers; winds vary block time
- 3.7 hr
Teterboro → San Juan
1,410 nm · Long overwater leg; fits with four passengers
- 5.5 hr
Carlsbad → Teterboro
2,100 nm · Needs one stop, typically mid-continent
Los Angeles → Honolulu
2,215 nm · Beyond range; no stop possible en route
Lineage
What came before and after
2009–2017
Embraer Phenom 300
Original version with Garmin G1000 cockpit; touchscreen cockpit optional from 2013.
Certified 2026
Embraer Phenom 300EV
Adds emergency autoland, autothrottle and autobrakes; deliveries planned for 2028.
Size and cabin
How big it is, inside and out
Outside
Silhouette · scaled to length
Length
Wingspan
Height
Inside the cabin
Photo · this model
Cabin length
Width
Height
Compare
How it stacks up
This aircraft
Phenom 300 (original)
- JetGrade
- 70
- Range
- 1,971 nm
- Speed
- 453 kt
- Seats
- 7
- Years built
- 2009–2017
After →
- JetGrade
- Not yet graded
- Price
- $13.53M
- Range
- 2,010 nm
- Speed
- 464 kt
- Seats
- 6
- Years built
- 2018
Alternative
Cessna Citation CJ4 (525C, original)
- JetGrade
- Not yet graded
- Price
- $5.1M
- Range
- 2,165 nm
- Speed
- 451 kt
- Seats
- 7
- Years built
- 2010–2021
Alternative
- JetGrade
- Not yet graded
- Price
- $10.49M
- Range
- 2,000 nm
- Speed
- 440 kt
- Seats
- 6
- Years built
- 2018
- Embraer Phenom 300E instead: Same airframe with a redesigned cabin and, from 2020, more thrust, 464 knots, 2,010 nm and runway-overrun alerts; asks run about $12.5–14.4 million.
- Cessna Citation CJ4 (original) instead: About 200 nm more published range, but a slightly lower and narrower cabin.
- Pilatus PC-24 instead: A bigger flat-floor cabin, a large cargo door and approval for unpaved strips.
Gold marks the best figure in each row.
Owning one
What to know before you buy
Engines & inspections
2 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PW535E · 3,360 lbf each
No APUEngine hours until overhaul
- Annual inspection · 800 hr
- Engine hot section inspection · 2,500 hr
- Engine overhaul · 5,000 hr
- 10-year inspection with gear every 120 months
- Landing gear overhaul every 120 months
- 15-year inspection every 180 months
- Engine low-use inspection every 120 months
Most jets are on ESP or JSSI hourly plans; without one, a hot-section inspection alone can top $100,000 per engine.
Known issues
Wet-runway stopping margins
No thrust reversers, and investigators found wet-runway braking can fall short of flight-manual figures. Train hard on the brake-by-wire system.
10-year inspection bill
Runs $250,000–300,000 with the landing gear overhaul, plus findings, and typically three to six weeks out of service.
Brake disc cracking checks
A standing directive requires brake inspections every 60 landings; a replacement brake costs about $26,000 per side.
Pre-buy checklist
0 of 10 checked
Embraer runs six company-owned US service centers plus about two dozen authorized shops and mobile repair teams. With more than 900 Phenom 300-series jets delivered, parts and technicians are easy to find.
Review
The full review
Strengths
- Cabin is 4 ft 11 in tall and 5 ft 1 in wide, roomier than most light jets, with an enclosed lavatory.
- A 66 cu ft external baggage hold takes 463 lb, with extra room in the nose and cabin closets.
- Cruises at up to 453 knots and climbs to 45,000 ft, where the cabin stays near 6,600 ft.
Limitations
- Published range of 1,971 nm falls to about 1,800 nm with every seat filled.
- No thrust reversers, so wet runways demand extra margin beyond the 2,621 ft dry landing figure.
- The 10-year inspection with landing gear overhaul typically costs $250,000–300,000 plus findings and weeks of downtime.
The Phenom 300 was Embraer's move up from its entry-level Phenom 100, and the line went on to become the best-selling light jet for years running. Certified in December 2009 and built until the Phenom 300E took over in 2018, more than 430 of these original versions were delivered. Every later Phenom 300 shares the same type certificate, so the wing, fuselage and core systems carry through the family; what changed later were the cabin, the engine rating and the cockpit software.
Pilot's take
Pilots tend to describe the Phenom 300 as an easy jet to fly well and an unforgiving one to fly carelessly. The Garmin-based cockpit is logical, and single-pilot operation is certified when the jet carries the required equipment. The traps are on the ground and in winter. There are no thrust reversers, so wet-runway stops depend on disciplined approach speeds and a firm grasp of the brake-by-wire system, and the emergency brake has no anti-skid. Investigators have tied the type's best-documented accidents to fast approaches, misuse of the emergency brake and skipped de-icing rather than mechanical faults. We would budget for annual simulator training and, ideally, fly it with two pilots.
Who this is for
Owners and companies flying 200–400 hours a year with small groups on regional trips, including qualified owner-pilots who want single-pilot certification and a roomier cabin than most light jets, for less than a newer Phenom 300E.
Ask about this aircraft
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