Eclipse Maps Out a Slow Road to Production

Eclipse Aerospace reiterates its plans to resume production, but says it will take a slow, conservative road back. As one step along the way, the company has announced a new refurb and completion program for the approximately 260 Eclipse EA500s in the existing fleet. Under the trademark 'Total Eclipse' program, Eclipse Aerospace will offer the refurbished and upgraded very light jets at a price of $2.15 million. They will include fully updated and upgraded avionics and flight into known icing (FIKI) capability. Current owners can receive credits of between $1 million and $1.7 million for their trade-ins, depending on condition. Those aircraft will then receive the Total Eclipse treatment and be remarketed to new buyers. Eclipse Aerospace CEO Mason Holland has cited a demand for the VLJs, noting that less than 10 percent of the existing fleet is listed for sale — contrasting with more than twice that number on average for other jet models. Each Total Eclipse deal includes a Gold ESP engine plan, one year, 300-hour limited warranty, completion of all service bulletins, one initial or recurrent type rating (through recently announced training partner SimCom), one year's Jeppesen subscription, one year maintenance manual updates, RVSM certification and EASA-specific upgrades. Early buyers are eligible for a guaranteed buy-back for a specific amount toward a new production Eclipse EA500 when production resumes.