Phenom 300EV: what Garmin Autoland changes and what it costs to fly

What the Garmin Emergency Autoland really does

Autoland is not an ordinary autopilot. It only kicks in under one specific scenario: the pilot stops responding to the cockpit controls. From there, the system takes over the aircraft, calculates route and fuel, picks among the airports within reach the one with the safest runway and conditions, flies the approach, lands, applies the brakes and shuts down the engines, all without human intervention. Passengers get on-screen and voice instructions during the process.

The triple certification (ANAC, FAA and EASA) matters because it means the system can operate under the three largest aviation authorities in the world with no market restriction. For Brazil, it is the first time a light jet is born with this layer of safety already in the national certification process, not as a later retrofit.

The technology family was not born on the Phenom 300EV: Garmin had already certified variations of Autoland on smaller, single-engine aircraft, with a different risk profile (a lone pilot, no backup crew). Bringing the feature to a twin-engine jet with an executive cabin, with a larger speed and altitude envelope, is a leap in technical complexity, and that leap is what supports the label of the world's first light jet with the feature certified. In practice, the most direct effect is on the risk profile of single-pilot operations, increasingly common in this jet category.

For anyone buying or already operating the model, Autoland tends to weigh on two fronts that do not show up in the factory price: the sizing of liability and hull insurance, historically sensitive to the number of pilots and the operation's risk profile, and the minimum-crew policy of RBAC 135 air charter operators and larger corporate fleets. No insurer or operator had publicly announced a rate change because of the feature by the time this article was finalized: it is an effect to watch, not a closed data point.

Three generations, one name

The original Phenom 300 reached the market priced at $8,945,000. The next generation, the 300E, rose to $10,995,000. The 300EV, launched with Autoland, is sold from the factory for $13,995,000 (source: Jet Tracker catalog, as of Jun 2026). In five years of evolution of the same model, the factory price rose almost 57%.

What it costs to fly the Phenom 300EV

The factory price jump between generations has not repeated, at least for now, in the variable cost per hour: the engine remains under the same type of program (P&W ESP Gold), and fuel burn did not change meaningfully between the 300E and the 300EV. What the buyer pays extra at acquisition mainly buys new avionics, range and, now, Autoland, not a jet that costs more to operate hour by hour.

Put on an annual scale: using the 400 hours of typical utilization that Jet Tracker's own cost engine adopts as the standard assumption for the category, the 300EV's variable cost adds up to something near $650,000 a year, before any fixed cost (hangar, crew, insurance, training). It is that full math, and not the factory price in isolation, that separates those who can buy the jet from those who can actually sustain operating it.

For broader market context, the guide on how much a jet costs details how this variable cost adds to the annual fixed cost to reach the number that really matters: the true cost per flight hour, not the list cost.

How many Phenom 300s fly in Brazil

The Phenom 300 is, historically, one of the best-selling light jets in the world, and Brazil holds a relevant part of that fleet as the manufacturer's home market. The arrival of the 300EV expands that family rather than immediately replacing the earlier generations, which keep operating and trading on the used market.

That detail matters for anyone selling parts, insurance, hangar space or maintenance for the model: the three generations coexist on the Brazilian ramp for many years, with similar maintenance profiles and the same type of engine program. Anyone serving only the newest 300EV is leaving money on the table with the two earlier generations, which also keep flying.

The backdrop: ANAC gets its own structure for general aviation

The 300EV launch did not happen in isolation. In the same window, ANAC formalized, through Internal Resolution No. 10 (in force since Aug 3, 2026), the first structure dedicated to general aviation, the General Aviation Superintendency (SAG), covering RBAC 91, agricultural aviation and drones (source: ANAC and ABRAPAC, August 2026). It is exactly the regulatory universe the Phenom 300EV, operated under RBAC 91, fits into.

That universe is not small: the Brazilian turbine business fleet adds up to 4,185 operational aircraft (1,171 jets, 1,432 turboprops and 1,582 helicopters), most of them under RBAC 91 (source: Jet Tracker, Brazilian Business Aviation Snapshot, as of Jul 12, 2026). The full breakdown, by category and by state, is in the analytics hub.

Who the Phenom 300EV makes sense for

The Phenom 300EV competes at the top of the light jet category, alongside names like the Citation CJ4 Gen3 and the HondaJet Elite II: cruise speed and range above the segment average, a cabin that accepts a full executive configuration and, now, a layer of safety that no direct competitor has certified in Brazil. It is the jet for someone who has already decided on a light jet and wants the top of the line, not an entry-level alternative.

Anyone weighing this decision against other models in the category, or against keeping an earlier generation that is cheaper to acquire and on the used market, will find the side-by-side comparison in Jet Tracker's model comparison tool, with specs, price and hourly cost on the same screen.