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Cirrus Aircraft history
Cirrus Aircraft company history timeline
Cirrus Design began in 1984 as a kit airplane design and manufacturing company in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
1984: Cirrus Design Corporation is launched.
By 1985, they had acquired space in a barn on the family’s property, and began manufacturing the first components of the VK-30, the fuselage.
1987: The VK-30 kit plane is introduced.
The VK-30 celebrated its first flight in 1988 and the company started delivering kits to customers.
In the mid-1990’s, Cirrus discontinued production of the VK-30 and launched the SR20 – a single-piston composite airplane that changed the world of general aviation.
Although the company delivered approximately 40 kits and introduced four additional prototypes, while making waves with a cover story in a 1990 issue of Aviation Week Magazine, the Klapmeier brothers had their sights set on something larger.
Delays in raising financing, however, caused the company to miss the 1992 building season, which stopped in the winter.
Alan and Dale Klapmeier realized that the best path forward for the growth of Cirrus Design Corporation was to discontinue production of the VK-30 kit airplane in 1993 and focus on gaining FAA certification through a new model of aircraft.
The company first test flew the Cirrus ST-50 in December 1994.
The prototype was first flown on December 7, 1994, by Norman E. Howell.
In 1994, Cirrus moved headquarters to larger facilities in Duluth, Minnesota and began research and development of the SR20, a four-passenger, single-engine composite aircraft.
Demand grew and in 1994 Cirrus Aircraft expanded into a 30,000 square foot R&D facility in Duluth, MN, and shortly after opened a composite production facility in Grand Forks, ND.
Liability Reform in 1994
1994: The ST-50 business plane makes its first test flight.
In 1995, they were contracted by Israviation to develop, design and build the "proof of concept" prototype of the turboprop ST50.
Anderson had joined the company after his predecessor, Robert Overmyer, a former space shuttle astronaut, died testing a new wing for the VK-30 kit plane on March 22, 1996.
In August 1996, Cirrus announced plans to build a plant at the Grand Forks International Airport in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Plans for a 106,000-square-foot plant in Duluth were announced in September 1996.
Ultimately, though, in May 1997 Duluth, Minnesota won out over both Grand Falls and Oshkosh.
By Alan Klapmeier's reckoning, most of the people who bought the 965,000 luxury cars that were sold in the United States in 1997 could have afforded a plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration approved type certification on the SR20 in October 1998, clearing the way for Cirrus to begin producing and selling the plane.
A new type under development, the SRX, was to be produced at a 67,500-square-foot facility at Grand Forks International Airport, which was projected to employ 250 people by 1998.
The first SR20 was delivered in Duluth, MN in 1999.
By the end of the year, Cirrus had nonrefundable $15,000 deposits from 200 people for the $168,000 plane, set to begin deliveries in early 1999.
In 2000, Cirrus received a Type Certificate for a composite piston aircraft with a larger wing, larger fuel capacity and more powerful engine – the SR22.
Cirrus aimed to deliver 424 aircraft in 2000, thereby producing earnings of $5.2 million on revenue of $92.2 million.
A year later, the fuselage was manufactured, wings and empennage of a Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) for the United States Department of Defence, using composite technology in all three components. It was FAA certified in 2000 and is today the industry's best selling model.
Unfortunately, the company was not producing SR20s quickly enough to be profitable (it had managed less than half of its projected one-a-day delivery rate), and it laid off 127 of its 639 workers in January 2001.
In August 2001, Cirrus sold 58% of the company for $100 million to Crescent Capital, the United States arm of the First Islamic Investment Bank of Bahrain (now called Arcapita).
In November the same year, Cirrus received a type certificate for its next model, the Cirrus SR22, which began deliveries in 2001.
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 June 2004, Cirrus received type certification for the SR20 from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). That same year, Cirrus accomplished record-breaking sales, up 69% over the previous year.
That summer, Cirrus acquired a 25-percent stake in SATSair, a 2004 start-up air taxi operator that flew 26 SR22s.
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 2006, the company delivered 721 aircraft (its most in a single year to date), 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 for decades.
On 28 June 2007 the Cirrus Vision SF50 single-engine light jet was unveiled (then known simply as "The-Jet"). At the 2007 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh airshow, the company unveiled the Cirrus SRS light sport aircraft.
In December 2007 Arcapita stated that it was looking to sell its share of the company.
Cirrus unveiled plans to develop a single engine turbofan personal jet in 2007, and it quickly became the most anticipated aircraft in the company’s history.
The Jet took its first flight in 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.
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.
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.
Cirrus Perspective™ by Garmin® was customized exclusively for our SR Series aircraft in 2008, and together we’ve continued to tailor the most sophisticated and intuitive avionics in the world, including Cirrus Perspective Touch™ by Garmin® for the Vision Jet.
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.
Cirrus started recalling its workers on 5 January 2009 after the month-long shutdown.
In April 2009, the company announced that it was suspending the Cirrus SRS light sport aircraft project.
On 1 June 2009, the company announced it was recalling 50 workers and boosting production to 8 aircraft per week.
In late August 2009, Cirrus announced that it was laying off 85 employees, mostly office workers.
In March 2010, Cirrus went to court in an attempt to get an order to prevent former supplier L-3 Communications from telling other Cirrus suppliers that Cirrus was heading into bankruptcy and from discouraging companies from doing business with Cirrus.
In June 2010, the company began paying back-rent owed to the city of Grand Forks.
In mid-March 2011, aviation industry analyst Brian Foley indicated that he was trying to organize a group of US investors to make a counter-offer to the Chinese buy-out to keep Cirrus as a US-owned company.
The sale to CAIGA was completed as a merger of the two companies on 28 June 2011.
On the first anniversary of Chinese government ownership in 2012, company CEO Dale Klapmeier indicated that Cirrus was financially in a much better position and progress was being made with certifying the Vision SF-50 jet.
In March 2013, the company was granted a loan for US$950,000 from the City of Grand Forks, North Dakota to purchase an autoclave for composite production at the company's Grand Forks facility.
In July 2013, Cirrus president and COO Pat Waddick indicated that the ongoing Chinese government investment would allow it to continue to develop new models of aircraft with innovative powerplants.
Cirrus passed Textron Aviation as the largest producer of piston aircraft by unit-volume in 2013, and has remained the largest ever since.
In 2013 the SR22 and SR22T were the highest-selling general aviation fixed-wing aircraft in the world and had been for eleven years in a row.
On March 25, 2014 the company's first conforming Vision SF50 jet flew.
As the next step in redefining personal aviation, Cirrus broke ground on the Vision Center Campus in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2015 – its flagship Customer Experience location, including sales, delivery, training, maintenance, support, personalization, fixed base operations and more.
The Vision Jet received Type Certification on October 28, 2016 – the first jet built by a single-engine piston aircraft company to be certified in over 40 years.
On 28 October 2016, Cirrus received FAA type certification for the Vision SF50 very light jet, with deliveries beginning in December of that year in the company's new Duluth aircraft finishing facility.
In 2016, Dale Klapmeier accepted the Joseph T. Nall Safety Award by AOPA for improving safety standards across all facets of aviation through Cirrus Approach™.
In 2018, the Vision Jet was awarded the prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy by the National Aeronautic Association.
By the end of 2019, Cirrus employed 1,600 people and produced 81 Vision Jets and 384 SR-series aircraft that year, resulting in the company's fifth year of growth and its best year in sales.
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Cirrus Aircraft competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pratt & Whitney | 1925 | $16.2B | 38,737 | 11 |
| Mooney International | 1929 | $64.7M | 400 | - |
| BRS Aerospace | 1980 | - | 212 | - |
| GE Aviation | 1917 | $10.2B | 48,000 | 1 |
| CFM International | 1974 | $16.0M | 64 | 135 |
| Quest Aircraft Company | 2001 | $47.5M | 184 | - |
| Scaled Composites | 1982 | $25.0M | 201 | 9 |
| Piper Aircraft | 1937 | $1.3B | 3,000 | 17 |
| Kaman | 1945 | $775.9M | 5,007 | 12 |
| Schweizer Aircraft | 1939 | $24.0M | 350 | - |
Cirrus Aircraft history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Cirrus Aircraft, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Cirrus Aircraft. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Cirrus Aircraft. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Cirrus Aircraft. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Cirrus Aircraft and its employees or that of Zippia.
Cirrus Aircraft may also be known as or be related to Cirrus Aircraft, Cirrus Aircraft Corporation, Cirrus Design, Cirrus Design (1984–December 2008) and Cirrus Design Corporation.