Business & GA

Eclipse Aviation has started taking orders for the four-seat Eclipse 400 single-engine jet less than one year after flying the prototype for the first time.

Separately, Eclipse also announced that the price of the Eclipse 500 has jumped by 33% to $2.15 million per aircraft. Even so, the aircraft remains the lowest-price very light jet on the market, Eclipse says.

The launch of the Eclipse 400 took place today at the so-called “E-rrival” customer event celebrating the manufacturer’s 10-year anniversary in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The project has come to fruition in record time for the aerospace industry. First delivery for the $1.35 million jet is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2011. That’s only four years after Eclipse launched the project in December 2007, commissioning Swift Engineering to design the Eclipse Concept Jet.

“Ten months of quantitative and qualitative Eclipse Concept Jet research has convinced us that this is absolutely the right airplane for the emerging single-engine jet market,” Vern Raburn, Eclipse Aviation president and CEO, said in a statement.

Powered by the Pratt & Whitney Canada 615F, the aircraft is designed to cruise at 330kts burning less than one pound of fuel per nautical mile.

Customers for Eclipse’s first VLJ – the Eclipse 500 – will be offered first rights to order the new jet. Eclipse 500 customers also receive an exclusive $125,000 discount off the final delivery price prior to 25 July.