Charter & Fractional
Eclipse chief stands by VLJ air-limo concept
As Albuquerque, N.M.-based Eclipse prepares to fly a Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610-powered Eclipse 500 later this year, company founder and CEO Vern Raburn

As Albuquerque, N.M.-based Eclipse prepares to fly a Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610-powered Eclipse 500 later this year, company founder and CEO Vern Raburn envisions a wide customer base for the very light jet. And with promised low direct operating costs (DOCs) and a price tag of a little over $1 million, the twinjet offers almost limitless possibilities.

For years Raburn has been touting the many uses of the Eclipse 500–from same-day package delivery service to corporate transportation to air-taxi service, and nearly everything in between. But it is the potentially lucrative air-limo concept fueling speculation that demand for these compact jets could be on the order of thousands of aircraft in the next 10 years.