Safire Aircraft has restructured in an attempt to meet the 30 September first flight target for its Safire Jet and to drum up sales of the very light jet. The strategy, believed to be a condition of funding by a new investor, has led to the abolition of Safire's public relations department and a heightened focus on the company's sales and engineering effort. "Our bottom line," says Safire president and chief executive Camilo Salomon, "is to have 200 orders around first flight, which we hope to generate through fresh sales and existing contracts."
Safire has 31 firm orders and 363 options for the six-seat aircraft and Salomon says the company will seek to convert at least half of these contracts into firm orders. "We are asking these customers to deposit 15% of the $1.3 million purchase price within 60 days of the aircraft completing a minimum of 10h successful flying," Salomon adds. If testing proceeds as planned the deadline for deposits will be 31 December. Certification and first deliveries are set for 2006.
Source: Flight International
