It's clear our customers want this product.Cirrus Vision SF50 Specs Cirrus Vision SF50 has a low wing monoplane design and consists of carbon fiber composite material. It's clear the market wants this product. 'In most products, there's some risk being first,' Klapmeier said.

Klapmeier says he wishes he had more competition, saying Cirrus would be more successful with a bigger industry.īut he's not worried about demand for the Vision Jet. 'Everyone had these dreams of literally thousands of very light jets, and it turned into almost exactly nothing,' he said. It's not really clear that there's much of a market in the middle.'Ībout 20 years ago, several companies developed planes known as 'very light jets' in the $4 million range, Aboulafia said, thinking there would be a huge market for them. 'And then there's general aviation, which is more for people who like to fly. 'At the end of the day, jets are usually used for people who want some kind of capability for business use,' he said. Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at the Teal Group, said he doesn't doubt Cirrus' ability, but questioned whether there's a market for personal jets. Several other manufacturers were also developing small jets, but all were waylaid by the recession and they haven't recovered to enter the market as fast as Cirrus. 'Our survival moving forward is based on growing a company, that continual growth, we're going to double the size of the company now with the Vision jet,' he said. The company's future is now staked in the Vision Jet's success, Cirrus' Klapmeier said. 'That's family sustaining wages, those are good jobs.'Ĭirrus is the largest company in Duluth's aviation maintenance and manufacturing sector, which Larson says injects $1 billion into the region's economy.

'Just those 150 jobs annually is $4 million to our economy,' Larson said. Mayor Emily Larson says the new building is expected to add 150 jobs, boosting Cirrus' total workforce in Duluth to around 850. The state contributed $4 million to it, and the city of Duluth added another $8 million. 'We tried to design the system so we could build just over 100 a year, every year,' he said, 'but it takes a lot of work to get there.'Ĭirrus is also celebrating the opening of a new $12.7 million facility in Duluth where the jet will be finished and painted. It'll take several years to fill those orders. Now, Klapmeier says about 600 customers have plopped down $100,000 each to reserve one. But five years ago, a Chinese aviation company bought Cirrus and injected $100 million into developing what would become the Vision. And the entire company had a part in this in the last 10.'įor a while, it didn't look like the Vision jet would ever come into focus.Ĭirrus was hit hard by the 2008 recession and it laid off hundreds of employees. 'Literally working on this airplane for the better part of 15. 'The thinking of this started when we started the company over 30 years ago,' he said. Klapmeier says a 'personal jet' was part of the vision for Cirrus from day one. Now it's banking on its new plane to attract even more pilots. Cirrus has won over a lot of loyal customers like Whisenhunt with its sleek four-seat piston engine aircraft that features an innovative full-plane parachute.

Cirrus vision jet price