Aircraft
Eclipse Blames Layoffs on Sluggish VLJ Sales
Eclipse has not disclosed how many of its approximately 220 employees were affected.
Eclipse Aerospace laid off a “substantial” number of employees on August 15 at its Albuquerque, N.M. headquarters and facilities in Chicago and Charleston, S.C., citing slow sales for its very light jet. Most of the employees affected worked on the Eclipse 550 production line. (Photo: Eclipse Aerospace)
Eclipse Aerospace laid off a “substantial” number of employees on August 15 at its Albuquerque, N.M. headquarters and facilities in Chicago and Charleston, S.C., citing slow sales for its very light jet. Most of the employees affected worked on the Eclipse 550 production line. (Photo: Eclipse Aerospace)

Just five months after celebrating the delivery of its first new-build Eclipse 550 light jet, Eclipse Aerospace laid off a “substantial” number of employees at its Albuquerque, N.M. headquarters and facilities in Chicago and Charleston, S.C., citing slow sales for its very light jet. “Although global market conditions continue to improve, the pace of economic improvement continues to challenge new aircraft sales,” Ed Lundeen, Eclipse’s senior vice president of business operations, told AIN. Eclipse has not disclosed how many of the company’s approximately 220 employees were affected, though Lundeen acknowledged that most of the reductions came from new aircraft production.

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