Eclipse Aviation and Avidyne have decided to terminate their relationship, Eclipse spokesman Andrew Broom told AVweb on Sunday. The troubles between the two companies go back to December 2005 when Eclipse announced a three-month delay for its Model 500 very light jet due to problems with an avionics vendor, which last summer was identified as Avidyne. Since then, the relationship soured further and the delays became longer. “Avidyne will no longer supply components for the Avio Total Aircraft Integration system in the Eclipse 500. We have agreed it is in the mutual best interest of both companies, and our customers, to wind down our relationship and go our separate ways,” Broom said. An announcement revealing Eclipse’s new suppliers and detailing its specific plans for Avio will be made within the next two weeks, he added.
“This change has no effect on Eclipse 500 production or delivery. All near-term customer aircraft will have the Avidyne components installed, and Eclipse will be retrofitting these early deliveries with the new components,” noted Broom. “The exact timing of the production cut-in is currently being finalized. Avio will continue to be an integral part of the Eclipse 500, and we are confident in our ability to deliver all of the promised functionality to our customers on an aggressive schedule. To this end, we have partnered with an impressive new team of proven, reliable suppliers to deliver Avio functionality. Our team has been working closely with this group behind-the-scenes for a number of months, and has already made significant progress. We expect the change to be seamless for our customers from a standpoint of Eclipse 500 functionality, look and feel.”
