KATE SARSFIELD / OSHKOSH
Eclipse Aviation has completed its fifth and final round of private equity funding for the Eclipse 500 personal jet. The $87 million injection announced last week at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, will fund US certification of the aircraft and brings the total equity investment in the programme to $325 million. "This is the largest total amount of funding ever raised for a new aircraft company," says Eclipse chief executive Vern Raburn. The capital in this round of financing, he adds, includes a $10 million investment from the government of New Mexico, where the company is based.
Eclipse says development flight testing is expected to conclude in the next couple of months and first flight of a production-conforming aircraft is scheduled for late next year, following delivery of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F engines. "Altogether there are eight test aircraft in the programme, six of which will fly, and two of which will be used for structural testing," says Raburn.
Orders for the $1.25 million Eclipse 500 total 2,100, of which a third are for owner-flyers and the bulk of the remainder for air taxi companies.
Source: Flight International
