Welcome! This is the fourth anniversary of general aviation writing at wikiWings®. During the year, we added articles on airplane operating costs which is a significant topic of interest for pilots. There are now more than 73 detailed posts on the cost to fly. You can view the operating cost articles in chronological order by selecting “categories” on the wikiWings home page (Select Category is located in the right side margin). Just click on “Cost of Ownership” in the drop-down menu.
This past year, we congratulated the Cirrus Aircraft team for certification of the SF50 Personal Jet and posted eight articles on the new Vision jet including its expected operating cost. Continue reading “Wheels Up! 2017”→
Cirrus Aircraft has shipped a total of 6,526 airplanes at the conclusion of calendar year 2016. Last year, Cirrus shipped 317 airplanes which was up by 5.3% over the prior year 2015. The numbers exclude Vision Jet delivers. In 2016, Cirrus delivered three jets to customers.
In February, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA.aero) released their 2016 annual report. It presents declining piston engine shipments which is disappointing news for GA but that’s not the whole story. Some manufacturers are increasing sales. In 2016, Cirrus shipped 5.3% more planes than the prior year. And, Cirrus piston shipments last year were up 14.9% over year-end numbers for 2013. That’s good.
It’s a trend that’s also being seen in Cirrus pre-owned aircraft sales. Compared to four years ago, availability has changed significantly because more pilots are shifting into Cirrus planes and taking them off the market. Supply slack is just gone in certain Cirrus pre-owned models. Continue reading “Here’s a Cirrus owner’s view of the GA piston market”→
Pat Waddick, Cirrus Aircraft’s president of innovation and operations recently said the company has more than 600 jet customers waiting for their airplanes to be delivered. This is great news for the General Aviation industry and American manufacturing. This sales number has been mentioned in aviation articles, but the discussion quickly moves on to another topic.
Cirrus jets are priced at about $2 million apiece which makes these sales a $1,200,000,000 book of business! Each customer has paid $100K upfront. That’s $60M in deposit payments! Has there ever been a light aircraft pre-sales book of business comparable to this in the history of GA?
Who are these Vision Jet customers? Why did they write that $100,000 deposit check years ago? What compelled a decision even before the jet was certified? Many of the position holders want to remain
anonymous. But we do know ~75% of them are Cirrus piston pilots. And, the book of business is global. About eighty of the 600 early position jets are scheduled for Latin America alone.
Most light aircraft manufacturers’ shipments are flat or seeing a slowdown. Naysayers complain the outlook isn’t changing. But the view only changes for the leader – as they say in dog-sledding. Cirrus innovation is winning sales and transforming GA. We need to see more of that.
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2017 Cirrus Aircraft Vision SF50 Personal Jet, photo credit wikiWings
If you’re a piston pilot like me, you may have not seen Cirrus Vision Jets for sale on Controller or Trade-A-Plane. I tend to just click on piston engine listings. But if you select “Jet Aircraft” you’ll now see Vision Jets. Cirrus has pre-sold 600 jet deliveries. As of this week, twenty (20) of those delivery positions are for sale on Controller.
Lone Mountain Aircraft and Aerista (formerly TAS Aircraft Sales) are market makers for pre-sold positions in Cirrus Vision SF50 Jets. Both companies are part of Cirrus Aircraft’s pre-owned sales network.
Mark Rodgers founded Lone Mountain Aircraft in 2008. I caught up with him this week to discuss sales of pre-owned Cirrus Vision SF50 Jet positions. Mark said, the resale prices are based on four components:
Contract price
Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Aircraft options
Premium
Contract price: On Controller you’ll see 2018 jet positions listed for $1,390,000, which includes a $100,000 deposit. If an existing agreement is resold, the position holder would be refunded the deposit by the buyer. Initial contracts were signed with early position holders prior to the jet being certified. Some were signed ten years ago. Continue reading “What’s the price of a new Cirrus Vision SF50 Jet?”→
