Aircraft Ownership

Cirrus exec shuts down financial speculation

By Thomas B. Haines

Cirrus Aircraft Vice President of International Sales Ian Bentley declared that “Cirrus is not going bankrupt; Cirrus was never going bankrupt,” heading off any questions about the company after speculation ran rampant a few weeks ago when Cirrus quarreled publicly with former supplier L-3. At a press conference at AERO, Bentley said L-3 and Cirrus had resolved their issues over claims that L-3 had been spreading incorrect information about the financial status of the Duluth aircraft manufacturer.

Meanwhile, Cirrus delivered 61 aircraft in the first quarter of 2010 and plans to ship about 300 this year. About half of the shipments in the first quarter went to Europe. Among the shipments were two SR20s with air conditioning—a new option on the SR20.

Progress on the Vision single-engine jet continues. The prototype is conducting flight into known icing tests. The company’s objective is to complete testing on the prototype this year and build a conforming prototype for certification flight testing in 2011.

While 2009 “sucked,” as Bentley put it, the market is firming up for 2010. Todd Simmons, Cirrus vice president of marketing, reported orders coming in from parts of the world where there was no activity at all in 2009. Cirrus has aircraft operating in 51 countries.

April 9, 2010