The Phenom 300E against the HondaJet Elite S, a genuine cross-shop for owners moving into twin-engine jets on cabin, range and running cost.
The gap here is wider than the specification sheet suggests, because the two aircraft are not being asked the same question. The HondaJet suits an owner flying short sectors with three or four people aboard who wants the efficiency and the engineering; fill the seats or plan out of a short or hot runway and its limits arrive quickly. The Phenom 300 is the aircraft charter operators standardise on, which is why it holds value and why it is usually crewed by two rather than flown single pilot. If the aeroplane will ever earn revenue or carry a full cabin at range, that decides this faster than any running-cost comparison does.
The table below uses the same versioned PlaneFit dataset as the Finder. Prices and operating costs are planning estimates, not quotations.
| Decision factor | Embraer Phenom 300EView aircraft profile | Honda Aircraft HondaJet Elite SView aircraft profile |
|---|---|---|
| Typical market year | 2024 | 2021 |
| Estimated purchase | €8.73m | €3.06m |
| Annual cash cost at 80 h | €542k | €364k |
| Five-year cash outlay | €11.44m | €4.88m |
| Cruise speed | 464 kt | 422 kt |
| Advertised range | 2010 nm | 1437 nm |
| Seats | 10 | 7 |
| Realistic payload | 1310 kg | 583 kg |
| Runway need | 978 m | 1128 m |
| Landing gear | Retractable tricycle | Retractable tricycle |
| Ratings and endorsements | Type rating | Type rating |
| Data confidence | Normalized for direct comparison | Normalized for direct comparison |
| Main trade-off | Class-leading speed, range and resale strength, but acquisition, crew, engine programs and maintenance demand a professional budget. | Fast and efficient with a distinctive cabin, but runway performance and full-seat payload remain limiting. |
A factual first pass. Mission, condition and configuration can outweigh a brochure advantage.
They do not cross. The Honda Aircraft HondaJet Elite S is the cheaper of the two at every utilisation from zero to 300 hours a year, on purchase and running cost together, so there is no break-even point to find. That is worth knowing plainly: on cost alone this is not a trade-off, and the case for the other aircraft has to be made on mission, cabin, speed or access rather than on eventual savings.
| Five-year cash, including purchase | Embraer Phenom 300E | Honda Aircraft HondaJet Elite S | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 h / year | $11.79m (€10.91m) | $4.88m (€4.52m) | $6.91m (€6.4m) to Honda Aircraft HondaJet Elite S |
| 100 h / year | $12.65m (€11.71m) | $5.46m (€5.06m) | $7.18m (€6.65m) to Honda Aircraft HondaJet Elite S |
| 200 h / year | $14.08m (€13.03m) | $6.43m (€5.96m) | $7.64m (€7.08m) to Honda Aircraft HondaJet Elite S |
The gap widens as utilisation rises, which is the part a headline price comparison hides. Every figure uses the same planning model as the rest of the site: indicative market prices, a fixed annual base and a direct hourly cost, before financing, depreciation and tax.
Advertised range is a still-air, best-case number. With 4 people aboard and realistic reserves, plan on about 1,347 nm from the Embraer Phenom 300E against 963 nm from the Honda Aircraft HondaJet Elite S. On a return trip without refuelling, that is the radius that decides which destinations are on the list at all.
Against the 28,815 airports in the PlaneFit database that publish a runway length, the Embraer Phenom 300E has enough runway at 14,639 of them and the Honda Aircraft HondaJet Elite S at 11,498, comparing each aircraft’s take-off requirement of 3,209 ft and 3,701 ft against the longest runway on the field.
This is a planning comparison, not a statement that any particular operation is legal or advisable. It ignores surface, slope, elevation, temperature, obstacles and how heavily the aircraft is loaded, all of which extend the requirement. It also compares take-off distance only: landing distance is frequently the binding constraint and PlaneFit does not hold approved landing distances, so a field in these counts is not necessarily a field you can get back out of, or into.
Nothing separates them here. Both require a type rating, so a pilot qualified for one is qualified for the other.
Ten-seat high-performance light business jet. Its central ownership trade-off is: Class-leading speed, range and resale strength, but acquisition, crew, engine programs and maintenance demand a professional budget.
Planning snapshot: $9.43m (€8.73m) indicative price and $585k (€542k) annual cash cost at 80 hours.
Read the full aircraft profileSeven-seat very light business jet. Its central ownership trade-off is: Fast and efficient with a distinctive cabin, but runway performance and full-seat payload remain limiting.
Planning snapshot: $3.3m (€3.06m) indicative price and $393k (€364k) annual cash cost at 80 hours.
Read the full aircraft profile