Alan Klapmeier is as of Friday no longer employed with the company he founded. Klapmeier, along with brother Dale, created Cirrus Design, manufacturer of the popular SR20 and SR22 aircraft, designs that reignited competition in single-engine piston aircraft and rose to a dominant position in the market. Recently renamed Cirrus Aircraft, the single largest manufacturing employer in Duluth, Minn., has since 2001 been in the hands of majority-share-holding Arcapita Inc., an Atlanta-based venture capital firm. “This isn’t the end. It’s just the intermission,” Klapmeier told the Duluth News Tribune. But Klapmeier also confessed he didn’t know what he’d be doing next. As we reported last month, Cirrus CEO Brent Wouters confirmed Klapmeier would be replaced as Cirrus’s chairman of the board. No replacement has been announced.
Alan’s self-proclaimed more conservative brother Dale remains with Cirrus as vice chairman. “The difference between the two of us is that Alan is a dreamer, and he’s extremely aggressive in what he wants,” Dale Klapmeier told the Tribune.Cirrus is capable of putting out 16 aircraft per week, but had cut that rate to three per week when current CEO Brent Wouters was appointed to his position in the fall of 2008. Wouters has said his focus is on operational efficiency. The company is back up to production of eight aircraft per week.
