Big Bucks For Eclipse | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-06.23.25

Airborne-NextGen-06.24.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.25.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-06.26.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.27.25

Thu, Jul 31, 2003

Big Bucks For Eclipse

Fifth Round of Private Equity Funding Secures $87 Million

Eclipse Aviation Corporation, manufacturer of the Eclipse 500 jet, today announced completion of its fifth round of private equity funding for $87 million for a total of $325 million of equity funding to date. The funding will be used to complete testing and FAA certification of the Eclipse 500 jet.

"The value proposition created by the Eclipse 500 and the advanced state of our development program have made Eclipse Aviation attractive to the investment community, especially now that Pratt and Whitney Canada has been selected to supply the engines," said Vern Raburn, president and CEO of Eclipse Aviation. "In one of the most difficult private equity markets seen in decades, we have raised $87 million in this round and believe the $325 million in cumulative equity funding to date is the largest total amount of funding ever raised for a new aircraft company. We expect this latest round to be our final equity round. We are on track for FAA certification in early 2006."

EAC Has Raised $325M to Date--Enough For FAA Certification

The capital in this round of financing includes a $10 million investment from the State of New Mexico's State Investment Council, which was enabled by a new law enacted in the recent legislative session. The remainder of the equity capital was from a group of undisclosed private investors.

"This investment represents the confidence we have in Eclipse as a sound investment and in recognition of the importance Eclipse will play in building a high wage economy in New Mexico," said New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who supported the State Investment Council investment in Eclipse.

Test Flights Proceeding

The Eclipse 500 resumed test flight in May equipped with interim engines and since then, Eclipse Aviation has successfully tested the aircraft's low-speed handling characteristics and systems operations. The company's advanced data acquisition system has enabled Eclipse to learn a significant amount about the aerodynamic and systems performance of the jet within a relatively short time period. After completing the development testing of Eclipse 500 aerodynamics and systems with the interim engines, subsequent flight test aircraft will be used for certification flight testing with the Pratt & Whitney Canada engines, which will be available in late 2004. Altogether there are eight test aircraft, six of which will fly and two of which will be used for structural testing.

FMI: www.eclipseaviation.com

Advertisement

More News

TikToker Arrested After Landing His C182 in Antarctica

19-Year-Old Pilot Was Attempting to Fly Solo to All Seven Continents On his journey to become the first pilot to land solo on all seven continents, 19-year-old Ethan Guo has hit a >[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Versatile AND Practical - The All-Seeing Aeroprakt A-22 LSA

From 2017 (YouTube Edition): A Quality LSA For Well Under $100k… Aeroprakt unveiled its new LSA at the Deland Sport Aviation Showcase in November. Dennis Long, U.S. Importer>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (06.27.25): Hazardous Weather Information

Hazardous Weather Information Summary of significant meteorological information (SIGMET/WS), convective significant meteorological information (convective SIGMET/WST), urgent pilot>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (06.27.25)

Aero Linx: Historic Aircraft Association (HAA) The Historic Aircraft Association (HAA) was founded in 1979 with the aim of furthering the safe flying of historic aircraft in the UK>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (06.27.25)

"We would like to remember Liam not just for the way he left this world, but for how he lived in it... Liam was fearless, not necessarily because he wasn't afraid but because he re>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC