In a ceremony at Oshkosh, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey handed a provisional type certificate for the Eclipse 500 to Eclipse Chairman Vern Rayburn. The action made the aircraft the world's first Very Light Jet (VLJ) to be certificated.

The company expects to receive the full type certification by August 30, two months behind its June schedule. Full certification will allow day/night, Visual Flight Rules (VFR), Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), single-pilot, and Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums (RVSM) operations throughout the complete operating envelope. Once that is achieved, Eclipse can start delivering the almost 2,500 orders that have already been placed for the $1.52 million aircraft. The Eclipse 500 is the backbone of DayJet's fleet and is expected to usher in a new era in passenger operations with per-seat, on-demand air service.

Financing

The company also said that it raised $225 million in a pre-IPO convertible debt offering, placed by UBS Investment Bank and subscribed by 11 major institutional investors. Since 1999, Eclipse has raised in excess of $600 million in private capital for the development, certification, volume production, and support of the jet.

In addition to securing financing for itself, the company announced that it has lined up several financial institutions to offer customer financing. The banks include Bank of America, UBS Financial Services, Inc., and Wells Fargo Equipment Finance, Inc.

Quiet Bird

The 500 exceeds the industry's most stringent noise requirements of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and used in FAA testing. Indeed, said the company, the 500 is the quietest jet in history, meeting Stage 4 requirements at 79.2 dB lateral at sea level; 68.8 at fly over; and 82.1 on approach for a cumulative score of less than 230.1 dB, roughly 50.9 dB below Stage 3 requirements. Noise tests, prompted by the fact that the 500 will serve many small, under used airports, found that the aircraft bested both jet and turboprop general aviation aircraft.

The first customer aircraft took wing shortly before certification. The aircraft, destined for David Crowe, flew for an hour and a half, reaching Mach 0.6 and climbing to its max altitude at 41,000 feet in a flawless test of systems. Nine additional production aircraft are now in various stages of assembly.

The first Eclipse air taxi operator in the Northeast - Linear Air - expects to take delivery of the 30 aircraft it ordered over the next two years. Linear, which is now raising its third round of capital for the aircraft, currently operates Cessna Grand Caravans.

Service Centers

In addition to its previously announced service centers in Albuquerque, N.M., Gainesville, Fla., and Albany, N.Y., Eclipse will open four new centers in 2006, in Van Nuys and California's Bay Area, the Chicago Area, and Boca Raton, Fla. Plans call for an Eclipse Service Center to be within a 60 minute flight of any customer in the lower 48 states by 2008. Service Centers will range from 5,000 to 40,000 square feet and will be staffed with trained maintenance technicians using Eclipse MRO systems. The Gainesville and Albany factory service centers will be operational by second and third quarter 2007.

Maintenance training will be conducted by Global Jet Services. All service center employees and Eclipse Designated Repair Technicians (EDRTs) will complete the comprehensive training course in Albuquerque, which will begin with an in-depth Web-based systems and operations tutorial. Following Web-based training, EDRTs will go through an intensive, in- person, instructor-led course that will be conducted over a five-day period.

VLJs Seen as Big Economic Driver

VLJs are expected to play a large role in the U.S. economy, according to a study commissioned by Eclipse Aviation and based on FAA forecasts calling for 5,000 VLJs in service by 2017. The Eclipse report, done by CRA International, assumes two thirds of the aircraft will be in air taxi service. In June, Regional Aviation News did an in-depth analysis on VLJs and the impact they are likely to have on regional aviation. (RAN, June 12, p.1)

"While a number of research organizations have examined isolated facets of the emerging VLJ market, we commissioned this report to assess the full scope of the impact of VLJs on our economy," said Vern Raburn, president and CEO. CRA predicts more than 7.7 million air taxi trips in 2017, with air taxi travelers saving over 35 million hours of travel time, valued at over $1.8 billion.

Typical communities that serve as bases for the operation and maintenance of VLJ-based air taxi services will experience nearly $16 million in economic activity and nearly 150 permanent jobs directly associated with VLJs. On average, such a community will produce over $76 million in economic output and over 500 jobs that are connected with the use of VLJs.

The CRA International study, "The Economic Impact of Very Light Jets," is at http://www.eclipseaviation.com.