See other Very light jets
4 Charter operators 8 Maintenance centres 2 ATO training organisations 1 New aircraft sales representatives
Fly with the Future
Totals and company lists below filtered for North America only. Adjust site filter for other regions.
The Eclipse 550 is a twin engine jet from Eclipse Aerospace, that can fly at altitudes of up to 41,000 ft at a max cruise of 430 mph. It uses 59 gallons of fuel per hour, and is powered by PW610F turbofan engines with FADEC.
The airframe is based on a preliminary EA500 design completed in 2000 by Eclipse Aviation. The first flight of the prototype took place on 26 August 2002, powered by two Williams EJ22 turbofans. The subsequent change to PW610F-A engines required significant airframe redesign, and the next prototype version didn’t fly until 31 December 2004.
Eclipse Aviation started to derail from that point on, but had produced 104 aircraft by 2007, and started taking orders for the production version of what would be the Eclipse 400 in May 2008; deliveries never materialised.
There were changes at the top, a large number of workforce were laid off and customers were lost. Production of the EA500 was halted in October 2008 at serial number 267.
EASA certified the EA500 for private use on 21 November 2008, but this was suspended on 24 June 2009. In that time the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
In August 2009 the company was sold via Chapter 7 sale hearing to newly formed Eclipse Aerospace, who opened for business on 1 September, 2009. In October 2011 Eclipse Aerospace announced a new version of the aircraft, the Eclipse 550, which replaced the 500 in production, with deliveries starting in 2013. In April 2015 Eclipse Aerospace was merged with Kestrel Aircraft to form One Aviation, which entered Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February 2021. US-based AML Global Eclipse purchased the assets of Eclipse Aerospace, including the aircraft, and will maintain support for all current Eclipse aircraft under the name Eclipse Aerospace.
The 550 retains the 500 airframe and PW610F engines, but incorporates an improved avionics package.
In 2013 the FAA granted a production certificate and the first customer delivery was completed on 12 March, 2014. EASA certification was received on 18 November, 2015.
Production of the 550 ended in 2018 in favour of the Canada model, later renamed the Eclipse 700. Powered by Williams FJ33 engines, the Eclipse 700 has a stretched fuselage, longer wingspan, improved performance and range as well as a higher gross weight over the 550. It also sheds the E550’s tip tanks to reduce drag.
●●●●●●●●●●
| World fleet | Charter fleet | Typical pax | Cabin volume | Cruise | Range | Years | |
| Eclipse 500 | ●●● | ●● | ● | ●●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●● | ●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●●●● |
| Eclipse 550 | ●● | ● | ● | ●●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●●●● |
| U.S.A. | ●●●●●●●●●● , ●●●●●●●●●● , ●●●●●●●●●● , ●●●●●●●●●● |
| Canada | ●●●●●●●●●● |
| U.S.A. | ●●●●●●●●●● , ●●●●●●●●●● , ●●●●●●●●●● , ●●●●●●●●●● , ●●●●●●●●●● , ●●●●●●●●●● , ●●●●●●●●●● |
Sorry, no completion centres currently listed. Please use our Feedback form to advise us.
| U.S.A. | ●●●●●●●●●● , ●●●●●●●●●● |
| U.S.A. | ●●●●●●●●●● |
Please use our Feedback form to advise us if you believe your company should be listed here.
Sorry, no company press releases. Please use our Feedback form to advise us.
