Cirrus Slows SF50 Jet Single Program

By: Mark Huber

October 20, 2009
Aircraft

Cirrus Design vice president of domestic sales Jon Dauplaise told AIN today at the NBAA Convention that development work on the company’s SF50 Vision jet has slowed, a number of employees working on the program have been laid off and the program has been moved out of its dedicated hangar at the Duluth (Minn.) Airport into “consolidated facilities” after the company fell $250,000 behind on its rent. He added that the company is concentrating on maintaining its core piston aircraft business, though limited flight testing is continuing on the SF50 jet single prototype, which recently returned to Duluth after being flown around the country on a marketing campaign.

“Next week it will be back out on the road going to Nashville, Atlanta and Orlando. Just to get it out there and let people know the program is still going forward.

Cirrus has a mockup, not the actual aircraft, at the NBAA Convention this week. Dauplaise said some depositors have requested refunds and acknowledged that Cirrus had been late in making some of those refunds.

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