Swiss startup company Aviace is to get a special, lower-mtow version of the Eclipse 500 twinjet for its European “jet club” operation. At EBACE 2002, Aviace announced it ordered 112 Eclipse 500s. The company’s objective is to set up “jet clubs” that should allow members to travel in the microjets throughout Europe. The cost structure is different from both fractional-ownership and air-charter operations.
Aviace CEO Hilmar Hilmarsson last month told AIN that a European variant of the six-seater would have an mtow of slightly less than two metric tons (4,409 lb). This would translate into lower ATC and landing fees. Eclipse Aviation confirmed that it was studying such a version.
Hilmarsson also gave some details on how the jet clubs would work from both a user’s and an operator’s point of view. He said jet clubs are already being formed at a rapid pace, even before the Eclipse’s first flight (scheduled to occur this summer). But Hilmarsson gave few comments on the financial side of the order.
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