Emirates Flight Training Academy took delivery of its first Embraer Phenom 100EV on Wednesday. Registered as A6-DWC, the entry-level business jet is the first of the five 100EVs that will make up the training fleet at the academy. The aircraft is the eighth 100EV manufactured by Embraer at its Phenom assembly facility in Melbourne, Florida.

A6-DWC landed in Dubai following an eight-day journey across more than 16,000 km/8,633 nm and 11 countries. The light jet was ferried by two Embraer pilots to Dubai in a 16-sector route via airports in the U.S. Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, Germany, Hungary, Greece, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

Emirates Flight Training Academy placed an order for five Phenom 100Es at the 2015 Dubai Air Show. However, it upgraded its order to the new 100EV in July 2016, becoming one of its launch customers and the first in the world to use the twinjet as a training platform for cadets. The 100EV, announced last year at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is an upgraded Phenom 100 with a Garmin G3000-based Prodigy Touch flight deck and more powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PW617F1-E engines.

In addition to the 100EVs, Emirates Flight Training Academy has placed an order for 22 Cirrus SR22 G6 piston singles, six of which have already been delivered.

The training academy, located near Dubai World Central Airport (DWC) in Dubai South, will be officially inaugurated this week during the 2017 Dubai Air Show. Its facility is spread over an area the size of 200 football fields and will include ground school classrooms, ground-based simulators, modern training aircraft fleet, dedicated runway, an independent air traffic control tower and a maintenance center. The academy also has accommodation and recreational facilities for cadets.