Certification of the Eclipse 500, scheduled for March, has been delayed until late in the second quarter of 2006 due to what CEO Vern Raburn described as “supplier delays.”
“We have been working with our suppliers to recover their schedules. Unfortunately, an in-depth assessment has made it clear that these slips will force a delay in our certification effort,” Raburn said.
While no supplier was named, earlier discussions had indicated that a key avionics source had fallen behind its planned production schedule. It was unclear from the announcement whether other suppliers also were experiencing delays.