Eclipse Releases Light Jet; New Flight Technology Follows

The boom in U.S. regional air travel has created demand for aircraft that emit few emissions and reduce noise pollution, a common complaint from neighborhoods surrounding regional airports. Eclipse Aviation's new light aircraft is quieter than any other single-engine piston or twin engine aircraft ever made, according to Andrew Broom, spokesman for Eclipse Aviation Corp. The Eclipse 500 costs only $400 per hour to operate.

DayJet, the largest buyer of Eclipse's new fleet, puts several of the aircraft into commercial operation this quarter. DayJet has ordered 239 Eclipse 500s and options for an additional 70 aircraft over the next two years. Service efficiencies gained by this light aircraft are priming Eclipse for another venture. "We see a new market in the same-day logistics market," Broom says.

Eclipse manufactures four per day - and plans to have 400 on the market by year's end, and double that number by 2008. As this aircraft becomes widely used in the corporate industry, Eclipse will enable FBOs to serve customers with more reliable service, Broom says.

Though already on the market, the new Eclipse 500 fleet's is being retrofitted with new flight technology. By this summer the entire fleet will be upgraded with Avio NG, provided by Eclipse and a team of avionics suppliers, including Innovative Solutions & Support, Inc. (IS&S), Chelton Flight Systems, Garmin International, Honeywell, PS Engineering, Inc.