Cirrus Design is to open its first delivery centre outside the USA, choosing the UK’s Britten-Norman Group as a reassembly partner for its SR20 and SR22 light aircraft.
B-N’s Aero Composites division, based on the Isle of Wight, will act as delivery centre for all European Cirrus customers. B-N will receive aircraft manufactured by Cirrus in Duluth, Minnesota, with the wing and horizontal stabiliser removed before sea freighting to Southampton. “If you buy an aircraft, you go through a love affair with it and that can be jaded if the aircraft goes through heavy icing and arrives with 35-40h flying time [after ferry flights],” says B-N group chief executive William Hynett.
The SR20 piston single is certificated by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), but the SR22 is not yet approved in Europe, so Cirrus had to use a facility approved by both EASA and the US Federal Aviation Administration, says Hynett.
Source: Flight International
