Company Says It Needs $10 Million For Expansion, and Production of Much-Delayed Jet Program

Despite several years of hype about how Cirrus (and in particular, the Cirrus Jet program) was now "fully funded" by its Chinese government owners; the City of Duluth, MN is seeking $4 million from the state of Minnesota to add to the $6 million pledged to help Cirrus expand and produce the Vision jet.

Minnesota Public Radio reports that Duluth Mayor Don Ness has asked the state legislature to fund the expansion this legislative session. At a news conference at Cirrus headquarters, Ness said, "We ask the state of Minnesota, just as they stepped up for Rochester and Mayo to facilitate that project, we need the state to be that similar project to help make Duluth, to fulfill our tremendous potential in aviation."

However; Ness has heretofore failed to mention the many dollars lost in an abortive deal made with Cirrus, in the past, for the use of the former NorthWest Airlines Maintenance facility... a deal that Cirrus ultimately failed to comply with at a time when it was also involved in a number of contract disputes and disagreements with other partners. Back in 2007, Cirrus claimed that it needed the NWA facility to build the jet... which, even then, had seen numerous setbacks in its fortunes. The original deal, which Cirrus bailed out of, offered what was then termed (by the Duluth Economic Development Authority) to be "lower–than–market price for the first few years" -- and ultimately required the City to devote significant resources to finding a new tenant (AAR) to take over the facility.

The report also trumpets that Cirrus employs about 600 people in Duluth, allegedly adding some 300 jobs in the past three years -- but without mentioning the hundreds of jobs that were lost previously (from a high that neared 1400) -- or the number of legal skirmishes the company has been involved in with suppliers, partners, and the most recent legal embarassment -- the $10 Million Dollar legal judgement won by Cirrus's primary Founder, Alan Klapmeier.

Alan Klapmeier had sued his former company, for breach of an agreement not to “voluntarily make any statement, comment, or communication that would to a reasonable person, constitute disparagement of any of the other Parties or that would be considered to be derogatory or detrimental to the good name or business reputation of the other Parties.” A jury found that Cirrus had breached that agreement, and that Alan Klapmeier had been harmed by their actions.

Despite these burdensome issues, Cirrus' Dale Klapmeier is pushing lawmakers for fast money... saying the company has a 'limited time' to get the funding for the expansion. He said if the money is not appropriated this session, the company (via an implied threat that has been used previously) will have to "figure out what our options are" to get the airplane into production.

Ness said aviation is one of only a few industries in the region that bring in outside money into the local economy. He said that he sees the city as a growing aviation center with companies like Cirrus and AAR Corp, which recently opened an MRO facility at Duluth Airport. The 148th Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard is also based in Duluth.

Cirrus watchers are concerned that another cycle of hand-outs -- and eventual disappointments -- may be in the works by a company that has demonstrated some serious credibility issues. 

The Cirrus Jet program is many years behind schedule, and is a program that was (for a considerable period of time -- back when Alan was still in charge) severely criticized and derided by Dale Klapmeier, himself. The company is still distrusted, by many, after a series of legal disputes with critical vendors resulted in numerous legal actions and threats of same, not to mention the threats they issued (and, in some cases, acted upon) to critics of the company following the departure of Founder Alan Klapmeier.

More recently; a series of somewhat bizarre/published statements (since edited out of the original report) was reported to have been made by Dale Klapmeier (and verified via conversation with Barbara Reyelts, News Director at KBJR-TV) in which he claims to have founded the company (his Brother Alan is the Founder), and having been involved in a midair collision (which involved Alan, not Dale) several decades ago that inspired him to design the parachute system (designed by BRS long before the Cirrus program) used on the SR20 and SR22s, has created even greater questions about the company's leadership, credibility, and direction...

More news to follow...

Aero-Note: Calls to Cirrus, and the City of Duluth (for comment) were not returned.

FMI: www.duluthmn.gov