After delivering 12 new-build Eclipse 550s last year, Albuquerque, N.M.-based Eclipse Aerospace hopes to expand its customer base this year by pitching the aircraft to customers outside the traditional aviation market.

“This will really be the ‘Year of Eclipse,’” company president Ken Ross told AIN, citing regional automotive groups seeking quick and efficient transport between dealership locations as one potential new market for the aircraft that ushered in the era of the “VLJ.”

Eclipse Aerospace rose from the ashes of the former Eclipse Aviation in 2009 with the primary mission to maintain, recondition and upgrade the original fleet of approximately 260 Eclipse 500s. That remains the new company’s most significant source of revenue, Ross noted, with more than 50 remanufactured “Total Eclipses” delivered and approximately 90 percent of the fleet upgraded to the company’s Avio 2.7 integrated flight management system (IFMS) avionics standard.

However, Ross added, that balance may shift as he “fully expects” to increase Eclipse 550 deliveries this year. “More than [the 12 delivered last year] are on the production line now,” added executive vice president for business operations Ed Lundeen. The company had delivered two new Eclipse 550s through late February, with a 90- to 120-day turnaround time for new orders.

Another factor in the revenue shift may also come from raising the Eclipse 550 base price from its current $2.895 million, “to keep pace with our suppliers and inflation,” Ross added.

Approximately 280 Eclipses are now in service worldwide. With other new twin turbofan-powered aircraft typically both larger and more expensive, Ross considers the Eclipse 550’s closest competitor to be the Daher-Socata TBM 900 turboprop single. He also expects the upcoming Cirrus Aircraft SF50 single-engine jet will be “great” for Eclipse sales in the end.

“Once [SF50] owners learn they can fly a jet, they’re going to want more speed and capabilities,” he added. “With [available] autothrottles, anti-skid brakes and synthetic vision and enhanced vision systems,” the Eclipse 550 stands out among new aircraft costing less than $10 million, he said.

Ross also anticipates movement on a stalled U.S. Air Force request for information (RFI) seeking to replace the service’s aging fleet of Beechjet 400-based T-1 Jayhawk trainers with Eclipse 550s; he added that talks are also under way to provide a small number of aircraft to other branches of the armed forces.

“We do not need to sell hundreds of aircraft per year to be successful,” he added, “[but] I think we can do better with telling our story to the market.”