80 NAPLES ILLUSTRATED
the veneer—are the key elements that dictate the interior,” Chavez
says, adding that while customers in the United States usually opt for
“corporate beige,” Embraer’s European clientele prefers higher con-
trast elements, such as dark wood with light fabric. Middle Eastern-
ers, meanwhile, tend to “go more extravagant,” Biegler notes, and are
more open to ornate details and bold colors than their jet-owning
counterparts from other areas of the globe.
“Americans express themselves more with the interior than the
exterior because they want to keep things low profile,” Chavez says.
“But in other regions—Latin America, for example—more attention
is paid to the exterior paint scheme because owners want people to
know that it’s their plane.”
Or, as they say in the industry, they want greater “ramp show.”
Adds Tray Crow, interior design director at Gulfstream Aerospace,
which is based in Savannah, Georgia: “Instead of seeing regional de-
sign preferences, what we’re seeing now is more awareness about
good design principles overall. Our clients appreciate design for its
own sake, and that’s what really drives their interior preferences.”
For Candy Dudik, director of cabin configuration and development
at NetJets, a company in Columbus, Ohio, that operates the world’s
largest private jet fleet and has a hub in West Palm Beach, the goal isroutine, not ramp show. “Although every aircraft is different, we main-
tain the NetJets branding and feel across all fleets,” she says. The frac-
tional ownership and pay-by-the-hour pioneer recently ordered 200
Embraer Phenom 300s, and NetJets VIPs spent several days in Mel-
bourne with the Embraer interior design team to ensure, as Dudik put
it, a “consistent owner experience.”
It’s the owner experience, Chavez says, that fuels Embraer’s passion
for creating customized jet interiors to meet the most demanding of
tastes. “There’s this huge satisfaction for us when a customer comes to
take delivery,” he says. “Although they’ve seen pictures of the plane—
and we’ve sent them renderings throughout the process—nothing’s
more exciting than when all the hangar lights are off, and there’s a
projector with the customer’s name or company logo, and then the big
doors open, and they see their aircraft for the first time. It’s like being a
kid again.” «NetJets maintains brand consistency with the same exterior color scheme throughout
its fleet as well as with classic interiors, shown on the Phenom 300 (above and left).
Below, a Gulfstream G650 emphasizes contrast with light leather and dark veneer.