ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Eclipse Aviation delivered its first customer aircraft Thursday, a significant milestone after a bumpy year in which the 9-year-old manufacturer endured a lengthy federal certification process. Eclipse president Vern Raburn handed keys - yes, this airplane starts like a car - to the first customer-ordered Eclipse 500 to Jet-Alliance chairman Randall Sanada and David Crowe, an owner-pilot who purchased a share of the aircraft.
"This aircraft represents the end of the development era for Eclipse," Raburn said during a ceremony inside an Eclipse hangar. "We are now a company. We have a transaction. We give Dave an invoice and Dave gives us money." Eclipse employees applauded during the handover, staged in front of the showroom-shiny white aircraft, trimmed in burgundy and blue with a tan leather interior. Crowe kissed the keys after taking them from Raburn. "Ain't she a beaut?" Sanada said.
Eclipse is among several manufacturers who are producing the new planes, known as microjets or very light jets. With two jets engines and a seating capacity for five or six people, they'll cost half as much as the most inexpensive business jets. Raburn said the price for Jet-Alliance's aircraft was $995,000, which included $82,000 in options. The shared-jet ownership cooperative, based in Westlake Village, Calif., was one of Eclipse's original customers - hence, the sales price. The Eclipse 500, dubbed the SUV of the skies, currently lists at $1.5 million. Raburn said the company hopes to deliver 500 planes to customers this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment