Eclipse Aviation, manufacturer of the world’s first very light jet (VLJ), today announced the winner of its Eclipse 500 auction through the company’s private label online marketplace powered by eBay. The auction concluded when Morten Wagner of Denmark placed his winning bid of $1,833,945 at 2:00 a.m. his time on August 11, 2007. Wagner plans to accept his Eclipse 500 at the company’s headquarters in Albuquerque this week. “I was just sitting there, holding my breath, watching the auction run out,” said Wagner. “When I saw I had won, I was delirious; I woke up the whole house and told everyone I just bought an aircraft on Eclipse’s private marketplace.”
The 35-year-old internet entrepreneur said he was determined to win the auction and was prepared to make another bid if he had to. Wagner, the founder of his company, Freeway, plans to use his Eclipse 500 for business travel throughout Europe, and to travel between his homes in London, Spain, and Denmark. Wagner said he started flying about a year and a half ago and has been following Eclipse Aviation ever since. He has already accumulated 462 hours and currently flies a Cirrus SR22.
“I’ve wanted an Eclipse 500 for a long time,” Wagner said. “To me, it’s top of the line, and the most beautiful aircraft around.”
Eclipse Aviation announced the auction of aircraft serial number 000038 at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI on July 25, 2007. The auction of the VLJ went live on an online private marketplace powered by eBay at 11:00 a.m. EDT July 30, 2007 and concluded shortly after 8:00 p.m. Eastern on August 10, 2007. More than 200 people were registered on eBay to bid on the aircraft. There were a total of 15 bids amongst six bidders.
“The fact that we can sell an early Eclipse 500 on an open market for more than $1.8 million demonstrates the enormous demand for very light jets, and particularly for the aircraft that started it all and still offers the market’s best value proposition,” said Vern Raburn, president and CEO of Eclipse Aviation. “It’s exciting to see that the winner is going to put his Eclipse 500 to great use in both his business and personal life.”
The auction was open to both existing Eclipse Aviation Bidders’ Club members, as well as non-members who were interested in purchasing an early Eclipse 500. The Bidders’ Club was originally offered from May 2000 to May 2002.
About Eclipse
Eclipse Aviation, manufacturer of the world’s first very light jet, is in the business of designing, certifying and producing modern, affordable jet aircraft that will revolutionize the transportation market. The company is applying advanced electronics systems, manufacturing and business practices to produce aircraft that cost half that of today’s small jet aircraft, will be significantly safer and easier to operate than those of today, and have the lowest cost of ownership ever achieved in a jet aircraft.
The goal of Eclipse is to bring the word “personal” into aviation, making it possible for business travelers to move directly between cities on a quick, affordable and convenient basis. It will also allow pilot owners to enter the world of jet-powered aviation. Contact Eclipse at http://www.eclipseaviation.com.
(DanBricklin.com) Dan Bricklin, inventor of the spreadsheet was recently invited to Eclipse Aviation’s manufacturing plant in Phoenix, Arizona. Dan shot some incredible video of the manufacturing and assembly process for the Eclipse 500. Eclipse is building aircraft similar to the personal computer business (modular design, high volume manufacturing, lots of use of computers) and less like traditional aircraft manufacture (lots of custom assembly, intricate parts, low volume production).
Upon seeing the production facility up close and personal, Dan said “I was pretty blown away seeing their actual production facilities in operation. Dozens of planes were moving through a production line and I saw some literally about to go out the door. The company is entering the phase of moving from creating the design to optimizing the ongoing production.”
Click here to see Dan’s video or play on the video below.
(ABCNews) Air taxi startup DayJet late last week was in the final stages of proving runs with its small fleet of Eclipse 500 Very Light Jets in preparation for the launch of commercial operations by the end of the month, founder, President and CEO Ed Iacobucci said last week. Completing the proving runs and adding the Eclipse aircraft to DayJet’s Part 135 certificate are the final steps remaining for DayJet to begin its “per-seat” air taxi service, Iacobucci told BA in a telephone interview Thursday.
The company had flown more than 25 hours with an FAA inspector on board by last week, he said, adding that the flights “have been going very well.” The DayJet Eclipse fleet had accrued 855 flight hours by last week and the first aircraft just underwent a 300-hour check.
Operations could begin on a limited basis later this week if everything goes smoothly, Iacobucci said, but the company is actually targeting the end of the month to begin air taxi revenue flights.
Earlier this year DayJet was shooting for June to begin operations, but that schedule had to be scrapped after the Eclipse 500 experienced pitot heater problems and was limited to flights in visual meteorological conditions (BA, April 16/173). Those problems have since been resolved with a new design for the system. Iacobucci, however, said the pitot problems were only part of the reason for the delay in launch, and added that the additional time has proven useful to DayJet to ensure that all the necessary systems are in place for a smooth transition.
Launch comes just after DayJet secured $140 million in senior debt and financing. “Securing this initial debt facility is a significant milestone for DayJet, as it enables us to continue the uninterrupted growth of the world’s first commercial VLJ fleet,” Iacobucci said in the announcement of the finance deal. DayJet has taken delivery of nine Eclipses and should add three more this week, he said. DayJet hopes to continue to expand its Eclipse fleet in the upcoming months and have 30 to 40 aircraft by the end of the year - “if everything goes perfectly,” he said.
The capital also is helping DayJet increase the number of pilots. DayJet had 30 pilots on staff and is in the process of adding seven more. Those numbers will continue to increase over the next several weeks, he said. The initial crews are comprised of high-time pilots, many of whom have experience with major airlines, while others come from regional airlines, corporate operations or the military. Iacobucci said the company wanted to ensure that the initial cadre of pilots had enough seniority to establish the proper culture for DayJet.
Investors Waiting To See
The latest $140 million financing infusion comes on top of the more than $60 million already invested in the company, providing enough funding for the launch. “We’re all set right now,” Iacobucci said, adding the next round of funding that DayJet might seek would be “growth capital.” But that wouldn’t come until DayJet has established itself and proven its model over the next several months, he said. Iacobucci was confident that DayJet has attracted sufficient interest among potential investors, but those investors want to observe the company’s initial in-service experience. “The next six months will validate whether the projections we made are or are not in synch with reality,” he said, but added that he was pleased with early indicators.
DayJet is selling a membership service to potential travelers. Customers must register to fly on the air taxi service. Iacobucci said some 200 companies have subscribed and the number of individual members has grown to about 1,200, nearly double the number of members that DayJet had just a few months ago (BA, April 23/185). DayJet is now concentrating on spooling up its regional sales team to ensure membership is spread out throughout the network rather than concentrated at one location.
DayJet is initially operating permanent “Dayport” bases at five locations in Florida - Gainesville, Lakeland, Boca Raton, Tallahassee and Pensacola. But DayJet envisions expanding those Dayports to more than a dozen, covering four states over the next several months.
FAA in the past year has begun to scrutinize per-seat service - which the agency has termed “fractional charter” - and has narrowly defined what could be considered a Part 135 operation (BA, July 30/41). FAA told a couple of carriers that it viewed their negotiations with a second or third customer as a Part 121 transaction, not Part 135. FAA was primarily concerned that these carriers were guiding second or third customers to an already chartered flight.
Iacobucci said he was “very aware of this problem,” calling the issue a complicated one. But he added that DayJet has worked very closely with both FAA and Transportation Department officials to ensure that the company’s service is run in accordance with Part 135. The company retained a team of scientists and engineers to develop a sophisticated computer program that will mix and match customers and available aircraft with the customers’ travel plans, he said.
The service does not lure customers to particular flights, but matches based on customer needs, he said. Under the DayJet model, there is no pre-set flight or fixed schedule. “When DayJet members request flights online, the system ‘individually negotiates’ a price based on their travel window,” Iacobucci said.
The company spent two years and $20 million developing the system, tweaking it as FAA and DOT continued to review the plans, he said. “Instead of saying you have to change the rules for us, we’ve said we want to embrace your rules,” Iacobucci said. “This isn’t something that we just whipped together.”
Iacobucci acknowledged that DayJet is under a spotlight because the service is a new business model. “There are a lot of people watching us,” he said. But that interest also has attracted business, he said, noting that DayJet has no shortage of people who have requested to be aboard the first flight.
North American Jet Charter Group, LLC, became the world’s first on-demand air charter operator to fly two paying charter passengers on the Eclipse 500 very light jet. On Aug. 14, North American Jet Charter became the world’s first FAR Part 135 operator to receive Federal Aviation Administration approval to begin commercial service using the Eclipse VLJ. This news is a surprise to the aviation industry; everyone expected Boca Raton-based DayJet to snag “first” in Part 135 approvals from the FAA and first to fly passengers; DayJet is Eclipse Aviation Corp.’s largest customer.
North American Jet Charter Group CEO Ken Ross, as PIC, flies world’s first FAR Part 135 Eclipse VLJ, with first paying charter passenger Ben Klein, CEO of Upstairs Solutions on a round-trip from Chicago to Baltimore. Courtesy North American Jet Charter Group. Eclipse, manufacturer of the EA-500 VLJ has been waiting for more than eight years to have its aircraft actually become approved to fly charter passengers, yet the company’s website fails to mention North American Jet Charter as the first charter operator to receive FAA approval to use the EA-500 for on-demand charter services. This journalist sent Eclipse Aviation an email earlier in the day, asking for a response; Eclipse refused to comment.
Ken Ross, North American Jet Charter president, who was the pilot-in-command during the first Eclipse VLJ air charter flight today, confirmed to CharterX he hasn’t heard a word from Vern Raburn, Eclipse CEO. This journalist, not Ross, questions the politics of Raburn: why has Eclipse ignored a historical-making first FAA-approved EA-500 charter company capable of providing business passengers with an effective-cost alternative for air-taxi services? Raburn has boasted that the EA-500 is the perfect air taxi twin-engine VLJ that will “revolutionize” travel for business executives. Business executives flew today for the first time–with North American Jet Charter.
Today’s first EA-500 charter flight, with Ross as PIC, and Ed Lavigne as copilot, both type-rated in the Eclipse 500, made a round-trip flight from Chicago Executive Airport (PWK) to Baltimore’s Martin State Airport (MTN), with passengers Ben Klein, CEO of Up Stairs Solutions, and company executive Tamar Abell.
“The flight was awesome!” Klein told CharterX after landing. “Both Ken and Ed did a marvelous job; obviously, they’re both experienced pilots. This is the first time I’ve been in an Eclipse 500; the whole experience was better than I thought it would be. The four hours total in flying time–getting to my business meeting and back–was perfect. I was surprised at how much room we had in back; the aircraft was comfortable and it had the smell of a new car; it was great!”
Klein, who employs more than 1,300 people, has also purchased an Eclipse 500 from N.M.-based airframer Eclipse.
“When the aircraft isn’t being used under FAR Part 91, it will be on North American Jet Charter’s FAR Part 135 certificate,” he said. “My aircraft, though, isn’t expected for delivery for many months. Our company also owns a Cirrus SR22, which we love; my wife is currently learning how to fly. She will fly the Cirrus. I’m a businessman; I don’t have time to get my pilot’s license, so I’m looking forward to getting my Eclipse 500, then having North American Jet Charter manage it for me. I’m the perfect example–fitting the profile of what Eclipse has been touting–a back-seat passenger and happy to be there.”
Klein said he was surprised at how quiet it was inside of the aircraft today.
“The Eclipse is a tiny jet; I didn’t expect it to be so peaceful; I could actually have a conversation with the other passenger,” he said.
North American Jet Charter CEO Ross says he’d like to double his fleet by year-end 2007.
“We’re looking at other VLJs, too, he said.” “Currently, outside of the EA-500, we manage Learjet A35s, a Citation 680 and a King Air F90. We expect to have 10 to 15 Eclipse 500s under management, too. We’re serious about growing out charter fleet, aircraft management and aircraft acquisition services.”
Chicago, IL (Crain’s Chicago Business) A new air taxi service is landing in the Chicago area, using a new type of aircraft that promises to slash the cost of traveling by private corporate jet. But as a business model, will it fly? Around the world, at least a half-dozen firms are gearing up to carry passengers on very light jets (VLJs), a new class of smaller, lighter and less expensive corporate aircraft.
With much lower ownership and operating costs, but untested demand and no track record for reliability, VLJ operators have been called everything from the next big thing in aviation to “dot-coms with wings.”
North American Jet, an existing charter operator based in Wheeling at Chicago Executive Airport (formerly Palwaukee Municipal Airport), will be the first in the Midwest, and possibly the United States, to offer VLJ service, starting mid-month.
DayJet Corp., a much larger operator based in Florida, also plans to start service this month.
VLJs typically have four to eight seats (including the pilots) and cost between $1.6 million and $3.6 million, about half the starting price of a corporate jet.
North American Jet is not planning more charters using a different type of plane. It’s launching a service called Q, which stands for “quintessential travel,” said company president Kenneth Ross, a former aviation lawyer who got into the charter business about 10 years ago. While charters are typically based on round-trip operating costs, Q will offer one-way fares.
“It’s basically an air limo,” he said, priced at about half the cost of chartering a conventional private jet but still more expensive than a first-class airline ticket
He doesn’t expect Fortune 500 CEOs to trade in their corporate jets anytime soon. His market is middle management—people who need to make a short trip and don’t want to drive more than an hour and a half.
North American Jet is launching the service with the 18th VLJ to come off the assembly line at Eclipse Aviation Corp. in Albuquerque, N.M. The Eclipse 500 has no bathroom, but Q’s longest trip will be roughly 550 nautical miles, or about a two-hour flight. The company plans to have three or four of the planes by the end of the year, and as many as 40 VLJs in a few years.
But while some VLJ operators have run up big start-up costs, Mr. Ross has been cautious. DayJet, for example, which has raised more than
$70 million in venture capital funding, has ordered 239 Eclipse 500s. Mr. Ross is not buying any planes; his customers—corporations or wealthy individuals—are expected to buy them, and North American will manage them as part of the Q service, partially offsetting the cost of purchasing the plane.
“The key is to let others own the assets,” said Vaughn Cordle, CEO and chief analyst for Airline Forecasts, a market research firm in Virginia. “That’s the one business model that might work.” He’s studied the VLJ market and expects many start-ups to fail because maintenance will be much higher than expected and the value of used aircraft will be much less than anticipated.
Mr. Ross is also cautious about the Eclipse 500 itself, figuring that the next generation of planes from Eclipse and other manufacturers will have larger cabins and greater range. “By 2009, 2010, the public will want a cabin size that’s more comfortable, and a bathroom,” he said.
Cessna did it last year, Eclipse has just done it and now Embraer is going to do it - The concept jet - Car companies have been doing it for years. Unveil a concept car at a motor show to create some excitement, grab some headlines and capture some customer feedback. Maybe something like it will make it into the showrooms. Maybe not.
To keep up the momentum behind its move into business aviation, at September’s NBAA bizav show in Atlanta, Embraer will unveil a full-scale mockup of a mid-size jet to fit between its Phenom 300 and Legacy 600. A concept jet, not a real one…yet.
At last year’s NBAA Cessna unveiled a full-scale mockup of its Large Cabin Concept Citation with the express intent of “gathering feedback…to determine if there is a favourable business case”. After outings at EBACE and Paris earlier this year, a launch at this year’s NBAA looks possible.
At July’s Airventure show in August, Eclipse went one better when it flew in the Eclipse Concept Jet, designed and built in just six months. Described as the “ultimate tool for evaluating the emerging single-engine jet marketplace”, the ECJ “is currently not available for sale”, says Eclipse.
Embarer’s plans to unveil the mid-size concept mock-up to NBAA were announced by bizjet boss Luis Carlos Affonso at Brazil’s LABACE show. The company has been studying what to do next for some time, and has made no secret of its plans to fill the gap between the Phenom and the Legacy with one, or maybe two, new jets.
But while a “more aircraft for your money” approach has helped bizjet newbie Embraer carve out a growing slice of the light-jet and large-cabin markets, the company has struggled to find a sure-fire differentiator in the mid-size market, which is defined and dominated by the value-for-money Hawker 800 series.
It will be interesting to see what Embraer thinks it can bring to the middle of the market. It may just be a concept mock-up on display, but NBAA will be no tentative toe in the water. It will be a final validation of the company’s plans.
Eclipse Aviation, manufacturer of the world’s first very light jet (VLJ), today announced the winner of its Eclipse 500 auction through the company’s private label online marketplace powered by eBay. The auction concluded when Morten Wagner of Denmark placed his winning bid of $1,833,945 at 2:00 a.m. his time on August 11, 2007. Wagner plans to accept his Eclipse 500 at the company’s headquarters in Albuquerque this week. “I was just sitting there, holding my breath, watching the auction run out,” said Wagner. “When I saw I had won, I was delirious; I woke up the whole house and told everyone I just bought an aircraft on Eclipse’s private marketplace.”
(DanBricklin.com) Dan Bricklin, inventor of the spreadsheet was recently invited to Eclipse Aviation’s manufacturing plant in Phoenix, Arizona. Dan shot some incredible video of the manufacturing and assembly process for the Eclipse 500. Eclipse is building aircraft similar to the personal computer business (modular design, high volume manufacturing, lots of use of computers) and less like traditional aircraft manufacture (lots of custom assembly, intricate parts, low volume production). 
(ABCNews) Air taxi startup DayJet late last week was in the final stages of proving runs with its small fleet of Eclipse 500 Very Light Jets in preparation for the launch of commercial operations by the end of the month, founder, President and CEO Ed Iacobucci said last week. Completing the proving runs and adding the Eclipse aircraft to DayJet’s Part 135 certificate are the final steps remaining for DayJet to begin its “per-seat” air taxi service, Iacobucci told BA in a telephone interview Thursday. 
North American Jet Charter Group, LLC, became the world’s first on-demand air charter operator to fly two paying charter passengers on the Eclipse 500 very light jet. On Aug. 14, North American Jet Charter became the world’s first FAR Part 135 operator to receive Federal Aviation Administration approval to begin commercial service using the Eclipse VLJ. This news is a surprise to the aviation industry; everyone expected Boca Raton-based DayJet to snag “first” in Part 135 approvals from the FAA and first to fly passengers; DayJet is Eclipse Aviation Corp.’s largest customer. 
