On December 20, Eclipse Aviation announced that it had received FAA certification of the Avio NG avionics and systems control suite for the Eclipse 500 VLJ. Simultaneously, the first production aircraft with Avio NG installed (aircraft 105) also received its certificate of airworthiness and was destined to be delivered to its owner “after the first of the year.” The news followed Eclipse’s claim that it reached the targeted $30 million in funding from about 50 customers in exchange for a fixed price on their Eclipse 500s. In late November, the company asked existing customers to help it raise $30 million in short-term funding by each putting up a $625,000 deposit in exchange for a fixed aircraft price of $1.25 million. The offer ended on December 14 and was contingent on the deposits reaching at least $30 million. Meanwhile, Eclipse is still seeking an undisclosed larger amount in long-term funding and is said to be close to a deal on this front.