Cirrus Aircraft
The Cirrus Design Corporation, doing business as Cirrus Aircraft, is an aircraft design, manufacturing, maintenance and management company, as well as a provider of flight training services, that was founded in 1984 by Alan and Dale Klapmeier to produce the VK-30 homebuilt aircraft. The company is headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota, United States, with operational locations in six other states across the US including North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, Florida and Michigan, and additional sales locations in France and the Netherlands. It is majority-owned by a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China.
Cirrus markets several versions of its three certificated single-engine light aircraft models: the SR20, SR22, and SR22T. As of July 2024, the company had delivered 10,000 SR-aircraft in 25 years of production, and has been the world's largest producer of piston-powered aircraft since 2013 and general aviation aircraft since 2022. It is currently the third-largest aviation manufacturer in the world overall.
Sales of the SR-series grew rapidly during the 2000s, until the 2008 financial crisis. Cirrus was planning to market a light-sport aircraft called the SR Sport, but suspended the project in 2009 due to financial challenges and a lack of market demand. This has since been cancelled. After a return to company growth and United States–based expansion in the 2010s, Cirrus certified and began deliveries of the Vision SF50 very light jet in 2016. Upon its delivery, the aircraft became the first civilian single-engined jet to enter the market, and is often referred to as a "personal jet".
The company produces all of its aircraft with composite materials and is known for pioneering new technologies in the light general aviation aircraft manufacturing industry, including glass cockpits and full-airframe ballistic parachutes.
In 2001, Cirrus sold a majority of the company to Bahrain-based Arcapita. Ten years later, the manufacturer was acquired by China Aviation Industry General Aircraft, which is a division of the Chinese state-owned AVIC. In 2024, it became a minority publicly-owned company as a component of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
History
1980s
In the early 1980s, while still in college, brothers Alan and Dale Klapmeier began making drawings and building foam models of the Cirrus VK-30. By 1984, they founded the Cirrus Design Company and along with spouses Jeff and Sally Viken, started developing the VK-30 as a kit aircraft project in the basement of the Klapmeier family's barn in rural Baraboo, Wisconsin. After a few years in the design phase, the brothers borrowed money to construct their own hangars on the Baraboo–Wisconsin Dells Airport, where they began flight testing. The VK-30 was introduced at the 1987 EAA Oshkosh Convention and first flew on 11 February 1988. Kit deliveries commenced shortly thereafter.1990s
Cirrus began designing the ST-50 under contract to Israeli aircraft manufacturer IsrAviation in the early 1990s. The aircraft was configured like the Cirrus VK-30 but powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-135 turboprop engine, in place of the piston engine used in the VK-30. The prototype was first flown on 7 December 1994 by Norman E. Howell. Earlier that year, the Klapmeier brothers moved company headquarters from southern Wisconsin to a much larger facility at the Duluth International Airport in Duluth, Minnesota, bringing 35 employees with them and hiring another 15 at once.In August 1996, Cirrus announced plans to build a plant at the Grand Forks International Airport in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
By the middle of the decade the company had discontinued the VK-30 and began development of the Cirrus SR20, which was first flown on 21 March 1995 and type certified on 23 October 1998. This was followed by customer deliveries of the SR20 beginning in July 1999.
2000s
In June 2000, the company received an FAA Production Certificate for its SR20 aircraft. On 30 November of that year, Cirrus received a type certificate for its next model, the Cirrus SR22, which began deliveries in 2001.In August 2001, Cirrus sold 58% of the company for $100 million to Crescent Capital, the U.S. arm of the First Islamic Investment Bank of Bahrain.
In July 2002, the company announced that it would collaborate with the University of North Dakota Aerospace Foundation to provide a new Cirrus Customer Training program. In February the following year, Cirrus delivered the industry's first-ever all glass cockpit light aircraft, sparking a major transition in general aviation, whereby over 90% of all new light aircraft by the year 2006 were equipped with glass cockpits.
In June 2004, Cirrus received type certification for the SR20 from the European Aviation Safety Agency. That same year, Cirrus accomplished record-breaking sales, up 69% over the previous year. The SR22 became the world's best-selling general aviation aircraft.
Cirrus entered the civilian flight-training fleet market with SR20 deliveries to Sweden's Lund University in January 2005, followed by Western Michigan University in September of that year.
In 2006, the company delivered 721 aircraft, celebrating the 3,000th SR-series airplane off the production line only seven years after deliveries commenced, something that no other aviation company had accomplished in the last half-century. That summer, Cirrus acquired a 25-percent stake in SATSair, a 2004 start-up air taxi operator that flew 26 SR22s. SATSair ceased operations on 24 October 2009.
File:ParaRudniki 2012 15.jpg|thumb|right|Cirrus SRS light-sport aircraft
On 28 June 2007 the Cirrus Vision SF50 single-engine light jet was unveiled. At the 2007 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh airshow, the company unveiled the Cirrus SRS light sport aircraft. A version of the B&F Fk14 Polaris, the type never entered production for Cirrus. In December 2007 Arcapita stated that it was looking to sell its share of the company. Cirrus indicated at the time of the announcement that this was expected as Arcapita was considered a medium-term investor.
The Jet took its first flight on 3 July 2008. In September 2008, the global sale slump in piston-engined aircraft impacted the company and it laid off 100 workers, or 8% of its workforce. This included 79 people at the main plant in Duluth, Minnesota and 29 employees at the composite construction plant in Grand Forks, North Dakota. After this round of lay-offs Cirrus had 1,230 employees remaining. Company COO Brent Wouters stated that the lay-offs were due to "not selling as many airplanes as we'd hoped to this year."
File:Cirrus Vision SF50 exterior facing left.jpg|thumb|right|Cirrus Vision SF50 single engine very light jet
Company CEO Alan Klapmeier announced in October 2008 that due to the economic situation and resulting lack of demand for Cirrus aircraft, the company was moving to a three-day work week. He reported that sales were down 10% over the same period in the previous year. Compared to the industry average in that same period sales were down 16%. Klapmeier also indicated that introduction of the SRS would be delayed until 2009, due to lack of demand in the light-sport aircraft market sector, but that the Cirrus Vision SF50 jet would not be delayed.
Cirrus eliminated 208 employee positions in the fall of 2008 and cut aircraft production from 14 to 12 aircraft per week in response to the economic situation. In November 2008, the company announced that it would lay-off about 500 production employees for one month to allow for reductions in excess stock of aircraft produced. Between December 2008 and January 2009, the company began the process of changing its name from Cirrus Design to Cirrus Aircraft.
Cirrus started recalling its workers on 5 January 2009 after the month-long shutdown. The furloughed workers were called back slowly over the month, to ramp up production to eight aircraft per week, compared to a company capacity of 16 aircraft per week. The company indicated at that time that it would retain the ability to reduce its workforce quickly as the economic situation and sales numbers dictate.
On 9 January 2009, Cirrus announced that it would lay off 50 administrative employees and extend the layoff period for 100 of the 500 employees laid off over Christmas 2008. Company spokesman Bill King stated that the cuts were necessary or else the company would not survive the 2008 financial crisis.
In early February 2009, the company's new CEO, Brent Wouters, indicated that the future of the company would likely hinge on the Vision SF50 jet design as production of the piston single-engine SR-series had fallen to 20% of its 2008 rate of 16 aircraft per week. Wouters characterized demand for new aircraft as "awful" and added, "We are increasing our focus on the jet, because that is going to be our future engine for growth in my estimation."
In April 2009, the company announced that it was suspending the Cirrus SRS light sport aircraft project. It cited economic conditions, that the aircraft required development, an expanded flight-training strategy and that the LSA rules were expected to change over time to allow LSAs with a broader mission profile.
On 29 April 2009, the company announced that it was increasing production from the previous 3-4 aircraft per week back to 6 aircraft per week. The change was accomplished without recalling any laid-off workers. The company stated: "We continue to see very encouraging trends in sales activities and interest from sales prospects domestically and around the world. Clearly, this is an upward move and is indicative of a stronger bias toward growth in aircraft orders. Though we remain in a very challenging environment, our hope is that this new rate is the first step and initial indicator of what will become a more substantial trend into the second half of the year and beyond."
On 1 June 2009, the company announced it was recalling 50 workers and boosting production to 8 aircraft per week.
The company stated:
On 26 June 2009, it was reported by AvWeb that Cirrus co-founder and former CEO Alan Klapmeier intended to buy the Vision SF50 project from Cirrus and its major shareholder Arcapita and produce the aircraft under a new company. The new venture had been receiving financial advice from Merrill Lynch. Klapmeier indicated that his reason for wanting to take over the project was to speed up development and get the aircraft on the market sooner. Cirrus CEO Brent Wouters indicated that while the company intended to proceed with the SF50 program itself, he would listen to Klapmeier's proposal. On Monday 27 July 2009 Wouters and Cirrus co-founder Dale Klapmeier stated at a press conference that they would find a way to produce the SF50, either at Cirrus or through selling it to Alan Klapmeier. They both said that the key factor was raising enough capital to proceed with the project, complete certification and commence production. On Friday 31 July 2009 Alan Klapmeier announced that his offer to buy the SF50 program had not succeeded, with the key issue having been the program selling price, as well as other points and that the negotiations were at an end. Wouters responded saying further talks were possible, but that Cirrus would continue to develop the SF50 in house.
In late August 2009, Cirrus announced that it was laying off 85 employees, mostly office workers. Todd Simmons, vice president of marketing, stated: "These are challenging days for Cirrus, but the decision made is in the best interest in the entire company. Our outlook is still positive. We are making forward progress within the industry."
In November 2009, the company laid off an additional 58 workers, or 10% of the remaining payroll. The company indicated that it had failed to achieve some "institutional sales of aircraft" and that meant the lay-offs were expected, emphasizing that it does not indicate deeper problems with the company. As of 11 November 2009, the company had about 550 production workers employed.