'Sunport 11' Part Of Company's Plan To Nearly Double Space

On Monday, Eclipse Aviation hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its new primary assembly building, called Sunport 11. The new 52,000 square foot space (below) will house a new, state-of-the-art assembly and manufacturing center, and will serve as a central hub for Eclipse 500 production.

Several local and state politicos were on hand for the event, including New Mexico Senators Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman, and New Mexico Congresswoman Heather Wilson.

"We set out to change aviation, and we are accomplishing this goal with the help of this great city and state," said Eclipse President and CEO Vern Rayburn. "As we move into aircraft manufacturing and delivery, we will continue to rapidly expand our physical infrastructure, growing from three buildings to six by June of this year. This growth will allow us to ramp production to four aircraft per day, and deliver on our order log of more than 2,360 jets."

Currently, Eclipse has three buildings in operation throughout Albuquerque, representing nearly 200,000 square feet of space. These include the company's Sunport 1 headquarters, its Sunport 2 final assembly building and the Sunport 10 friction stir weld center, located off-field. The company plans to expand its facilities to encompass six buildings totaling more than 350,000 square feet by June 2006.

All six buildings will be in close proximity to the Sunport, with Sunport 1, 2 and 3 (center) located on the Albuquerque International Sunport grounds.

FMI: www.eclipseaviation.com