More Layoffs at One Aviation as VLJ Market Dims

Forecasts of sales declines across the light jet segment contributed to the decision by One Aviation to lay off an unspecified number of employees at the company's Albuquerque, New Mexico facility last week, company president Ken Ross told AIN. “GAMA expects quarterly sales to be down for aircraft deliveries, and we’re seeing that throughout this market space,” he continued. "We have primarily realigned our production, service and engineering capabilities to be more efficient.”

Formed in April 2015 with the merger of Eclipse Aerospace and Kestrel Aircraft, One Aviation produces the Eclipse 550 very light jet and is developing the Kestrel K350 turboprop single. The company has delivered only 12 new Eclipse 550s from 2015 through last year’s third quarter, according to the latest GAMA statistics, in addition to twelve 550s delivered by Eclipse Aerospace in 2014.

One Aviation also handles training and maintenance for the approximately 300 Eclipse jets in service, and upgrading earlier Eclipse 500s for current operators and for resale as the Eclipse SE. In July, the company announced work on "Project Canada," an upgraded Eclipse variant to include greater range, larger engines and Garmin G3000 avionics.

Ross emphasized the company’s focus is on completing Project Canada, and “we’ll certainly look to hire folks back” as it nears production.