This New Embraer Praetor 600 Jet Has Wild Custom Carpeting—Here’s a Look Inside

For Miami-based businessman Ibrahim Al-Rashid and his wife Ryann, who are also local philanthropists, the delivery of their first jet was the opus of an ambitious, two-year design project. When the couple ordered their $26 million Embraer Praetor 600 in 2023, they wanted more than a conventional jet with a humdrum interior, especially if it might quickly seem dated.

The Praetor 600 was the first private jet for the Al-Rashids, who often travel with their children, after a lifetime of flying in Gulfstreams owned by Ibrahim’s father. The super midsize jet, with seating for up to 11 passengers, is used mostly for business travel but has also already been transport for a family trip to Europe.

“Inspiration through materials” was the motto for designing the custom interior. But the couple soon realized the inspiration would require a lot more sweat equity and time than originally planned. “It is surprising how many hours one can spend outfitting a relatively small space,” says Ibrahim, CEO of Limestone Asset Management, a commercial real estate investment company. The Al-Rashids offered Robb Report an exclusive first look at their highly unconventional interior.

The protracted design process involved multiple all-day in-person meetings with Embraer’s Executive Jet design team in Melbourne, Fla., and many emails and video conference calls to refine the look. The Al-Rashids wanted the interior to combine personality with functionality, all within the footprint of a 27-foot cabin with a flat floor and 6-foot ceiling height. The Praetor 600 also features 14 large windows that flood the interior with natural light.

The couple decided to split the design, with Ibrahim working on the exterior and Ryann tackling the interior. They agreed to be able to veto an odd-looking color or a material way outside their respective comfort zones. Ibrahim’s white, blue, and gold fuselage (Ryann said “no way” to the idea of a green-and-gold color scheme) resembled one of his father’s former Gulfstreams.

Ryann’s inspiration for the cabin came from a Rolls-Royce she’d owned for five years. But that was just the initial reference point. Reimagining a fresh, compelling jet interior meant combining a range of materials in unconventional ways. The goal was to avoid a multi-patterned cabin that clashed, but instead create something that was unified because of smart design choices. The names of the materials—Icicle Shimmer Fusion valance panels, Aeronappa Hawthorn table shrouds, and TAJ Cowhide Blue Jewel magazine holders—give a sense of the bold selection process. 

Starting with the basics, Ryann avoided any wood choices that might date the jet. “I didn’t want gray because that doesn’t give much warmth,” she says. “And definitely not black. It feels like a dungeon when the interior is too dark.” Working with Embraer’s design team, she sampled dozens of wood types, grains and finishes, eventually coming across an option called Breeze Oak Recon that was not one of the base veneers. “It wasn’t too warm, but warm enough with all the cooler colors to tie everything together,” she says.

The wood matched the white ultraleather executive seating (and divan), which employ a stitch pattern reminiscent of the stones lining the boardwalk at Rio’s Ipanema Beach. The cabin also has brown edging that pairs perfectly with the rose gold (an alloy from pure gold and copper) hardware found throughout the interior.

At the same time that Ryann was jigsawing colors and materials, Jay Beaver, Embraer’s vice president of interior design, and his team were following a parallel path. The Embraer designers envisioned a color scheme that was remarkably similar to Ryann’s, but pushed it one step farther with a carpet that became the cabin’s signature feature.

Made of navy-blue Cambria wool, silk, and rose-gold stitching, the carpet design depicts the Amazon rainforest morphing into a circuit board, symbolizing the blending of nature and technology. “We’d already gone through 30 different rug concepts, but they all seemed a little loud,” says Ryann. “This one had a beautiful pattern that was also really impactful.”

The interior’s more practical side includes stowable workstations, forward club and divan cabin seating, a fully enclosed aft lavatory, and dual Wi-Fi systems that include Gogo Avance L5 and Ka-band satellite connectivity. The Praetor’s cabin-management system allows passengers to control lighting, temperature, and entertainment via their phones or iPads.

The galley is outfitted with Breeze Oak Recon cabinets, Labrador Antique stone countertops and flooring, a microwave, conventional oven, refrigerator, and the requisite coffee machine. The cockpit’s Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics suite includes synthetic vision guidance that overlays 3-D terrain data, a head-up Display for flight data, predictive wind shear detection, and vertical weather radar. The Praetor 600’s Active Turbulence Reduction System is an industry first, monitoring wind and weather and automatically adjusting control surfaces in real-time.

The Al-Rashids have already flown in their Praetor 600 to Mexico, Bermuda, and Geneva since its February delivery. This summer, they are planning a trip around the world, including Japan and other parts of Asia.

The conventional wisdom among aircraft owners is that a safe, conservative cabin helps with resale value later, while something too bold might put off buyers. But the opposite is true for the new Praetor 600. “My husband gets offers almost every week for this plane,” says Ryann. “We took some risks, but people are responding to what’s new and what’s in style.”