Eclipse VLJ Is Most Assuredly 'Back On Track'

After a very shaky period in which the previous iteration of Eclipse Aircraft wound up going astray, a whole company, Eclipse Aerospace and its President Mason Holland, says "we're happy, we're selling planes, customers are happy, and things are rolling off the line."

Holland says every Total Eclipse comes standard with the Avio Integrated Flight Management Systems. Existing customers can also retrofit their Eclipse 500 jets with the IFMS package. The upgrades can cost from $70-80,000 up to half a million dollars, according to Holland.

The airplane has also been certified back to FL410 with a retrofit to its engines.

Holland says if there's a disappointment, it's that service revenue has not met projections because the airplanes keep flying.

"People are flying more with less problems," he says.

Eclipse is in a growth stage, according to Holland, not in a retrenching stage. He said that a production Eclipse is definitely on the horizon. "There's no question about it," Holland says. The company is working actively with suppliers, and production will begin as soon as there is demand, which Holland predicts will be "very soon."

FMI: www.eclipseaerospace.net, www.aero-tv.net, www.youtube.com/aerotvnetwork, http://twitter.com/AeroNews