SVP Ed Lundeen: We're Not Seeing The Sales We Planned For

Eclipse Aerospace announced Friday that they were laying off "several people" in light of lower-than-projected sales numbers for the Very Light Jet.

Eclipse Aerospace Senior Vice President Ed Lundeen told Albuquerque Business First that the move was due to a market recovery that is not as robust as had been expected by the company. "We're not seeing the sales we planned for," he told the paper.

Lundeen did not say how many employees would be idled. There were about 220 on the payroll before the layoffs were announced.

The move comes less than a year after the State of New Mexico poured $397,000 in economic incentives into Eclipse, with the City of Albuquerque adding $238,000 with the expectation that the company would add 100 new jobs. It is not known whether any of that will have to be repaid.

Eclipse Aerospace has delivered 10 Eclipse 550 VLJs to customers since production began. Ludeen told the paper that because of the low sales numbers "we've had to realign our production forecast. We're building less airplanes, and we need fewer human resources."

(Image from file)

FMI: www.eclipseaerospace.net