VLJ Blues
The VLJ industry is currently going through its first major shake-up. ATG recently announced that it halted development of the Javelin, Adam Aircraft suspended operations last months, and Eclipse Aviation is rumored to be seeking additional funding, most likely to come from ETIRC, while many early buyers are selling their positions for the Eclipse 500. Building a new aircraft is extremely expensive, and most start-ups fail eventually. At this point, Cessna’s Mustang and Embraer’s Phenom 100 look like the safest bets, while Epic’s Elite became a very serious challenger since Aircraft Investor Resources LLC (Epic’s parent company) received significant funding from Indian billionaire Dr. Vijay Mallya. In the single engine category, the Cirrus Jet looks more and more attractive, even though a used Pilatus PC-12 or TBM-700 might be a better option overall.
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