Business & GA

Eclipse Aviation has established itself as the exclusive sales agent for the 28 Eclipse 500 very light jets belonging to defunct air taxi operator DayJet. The aircraft have between 150 and 450 cycles of flight time and none are fully equipped with the latest Eclipse upgrades, including flight into known icing and Avio NG version 1.5 integrated avionics.

JetsAmerica, a company that buys, sells and manages VLJs, had offered $500,000 each for the aircraft to United Technologies Finance, one of the lienholders of the fleet. JetsAmerica says it had more than 20 investors ready with $100,000 deposits, but it did not receive a response from United Technologies.

© Eclipse

Eclipse is not disclosing a price for the aircraft, but says it will be "much more" than JetsAmerica was offering and would depend on flight hours as well as the state of equipage. Eclipse says the aircraft will be sold "as is", which includes DayJet's interior and paint.

A source familiar with the sale says the asking price will be $1.8-2 million, with upgrades and paint to be installed at Eclipse cost. Used Eclipse 500s for sale are on the list for $1.6-1.8 million, while new aircraft from the factory list at $2.15 million.