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It’s official: Cirrus Aircraft is moving ahead with the development of its SF50 Vision Jet, announcing yesterday that the project is now fully funded all the way through certification and initial production. The new investment in the personal jet development project comes courtesy of Cirrus’ new Chinese owner, CAIGA. Cirrus also announced that they anticipate the first customer delivery to take place in 2015.
The Vision Jet concept aircraft first flew in 2008. Since then Cirrus’ designers and engineers have been working on systems verification and flight envelope testing. Renewed investment from CAIGA infused the jet project with the financial resources CEO, Dale Klapmeier, has been saying are needed to bring the SF50 to the masses. Yesterday’s announcement hurries the pace and increases the momentum of the Vision Jet program. Cirrus said they’ll immediately hire more engineers, designers and other staff to “ramp up to certification and production.”
The fork-tailed jet has been hotly anticipated since its debut. It will continue the design and safety innovation trend Cirrus has become known for, and will be the next logical step for pilots coming from the SR20 and SR22 series of aircraft. Speaking at the announcement, Klapmeier said, “Today is simply a tremendous milestone for Cirrus.” He said the new investment provides, “Substantial resources for us to meet and exceed our shared goals as we build an entire family of Cirrus aircraft.” The list price for the SF50 is $1.72 million today, but will increase to $1.96 million beginning in July 1, 2012.
