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Eclipse Aerospace CEO and Chairman Mason Holland signs the fuselage of the first jet in production. (Courtesy of Eclipse)
Jet production has resumed in Albuquerque after a more than three-year hiatus as Eclipse Aerospace employees ceremoniously joined together the forward keel assembly to the fuselage of the first new Eclipse 550 very light jet on Friday.
Priced at $2,695,000 in 2011 dollars, the Eclipse 550 is the next generation of the original twin-engine Eclipse 500 that was developed and built in Albuquerque during the 2000s by now-defunct Eclipse Aviation. Eclipse Aerospace acquired the assets of the original company in a bankruptcy auction in 2009.
The first Eclipse 550 is expected to take 12 months to complete as the production line is re-tooled and validated. The second new aircraft is expected to come off the production line about 60 days later, followed by the third aircraft about 30 days after the second one.
Depending on demand, production is expected to reach a pace of 50-100 aircraft a year in 2014 and 2015.
-- Email the reporter at rmetcalf@abqjournal.com. Call the reporter at 505-823-3972
