Aircraft
Air-taxi startup buys into Eclipse Aviation
Eclipse Aviation, the Albuquerque, N.M.

Eclipse Aviation, the Albuquerque, N.M. company that premiered its Eclipse 500 twinjet in March 2000, said it has secured a launch customer that may make its dreams of solvency a reality.

In an announcement that was intended to be made at the NBAA Convention, Eclipse president and CEO Vern Raburn revealed to AIN that the Nimbus Group, an air-taxi startup that has emerged from the ashes of a failed retail auction dot-com firm, has placed an order for 1,000 of the six-place jets and has committed to make an equity investment in Eclipse Aviation. Although specific details were not disclosed, an Eclipse spokeswoman said the amount of Nimbus’ participation was “not even close to a majority.”

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