Embraer’s Phenom 100 Jet Will Allow Avantair To Expand Product OfferingS

Avantair has placed an order for 20 Phenom 100 executive jets from Embraer. Avantair’s firm contract has an order value of $57 million at list price in January 2005 economic conditions. The Phenom 100 is expected to enter service in mid-2008 and Avantair is scheduled to take delivery of its first aircraft in June 2009.

“The Phenom 100 is a perfect addition to our fleet,” stated Matt Doyle, Avantair Vice President of Sales. “It gives us an advantage in the marketplace by allowing us to offer our existing and potential owners the best in the Very Light Jets category in both fuel efficiency and cabin comfort.”

The addition of Embraer’s Phenom 100 to Avantair’s current fleet will give them the opportunity to offer a wider variety of aircraft and fractional share programs options. Avantair also offers custom programs and travel solutions that provide the highest quality of customer service.

“As one the largest fractional ownership companies in the world, Avantair has placed tremendous faith and trust in Embraer’s products,” said Luis Carlos Affonso, Embraer Executive Vice-President, Executive Jets. “We are immensely grateful to Avantair and we are confident that the Phenom 100 will offer the finest in performance, reliability, efficiency and premium comfort that has become synonymous with the Avantair name.”

Embraer’s Phenom 100 is the most suitable choice for ownership management programs and air taxi operations in that it is designed for high utilization and high availability. It is designed for at least 35,000 cycles of operation. Although business jets typically operate around 500 hours per year, the Phenom jets’ design philosophy of high availability and reliability is the same as that of the ERJ 145 and EMBRAER 170/190 family of commercial jets that operate well over 2,000 hours per year.

The Phenom 100 is priced at US$2.85 million in January 2005 economic conditions for FAA certification and is expected to enter service in mid-2008.

On October 2, 2006, Avantair announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by publicly-traded Ardent Acquisition Corp. Following consummation of the acquisition, Avantair’s current management team will remain in place, joined by Barry Gordon, the current Chief Executive Officer of Ardent, who will become non-executive Chairman of the Board. In addition, it is intended that, upon consummation of the acquisition, Ardent will change its name to “Avantair” and will apply for a NASDAQ listing. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter 2007.

FMI: www.avantair.com