Icon To Certify The A5 In Primary Category

In an effort to boost international sales, Icon Aircraft said at AirVenture this week that it will certify its A5 in the primary category later this year and is offering new appearance and equipment packages. Although the company hasn’t yet achieved its ambitious initial sales goals, it has retrenched and reorganized for more efficient production and expects to build 34 aircraft in 2021, with 24 delivered in the second half.

At AirVenture, Icon also showed an aircraft painted in one of three new appearance package schemes, a bright lime green. Although the airplane is intended as a VFR-only fun flyer, buyers have expressed an interest in autopilots so one option will be the Garmin G3X with autopilot. The airplane will continue to be offered as an LSA with the Garmin aera 796, a large format panel-mounted portable. The G3X model will sell for $399,000 in the primary category version, $384,000 in the LSA version and the aera 796 model will sell for $359,000.

Warren Curry, Icon’s sales and product development vice president, said the company sees strong sales potential outside of North America but the patchwork of light aircraft regulations in other countries has made closing the deals difficult. The primary category is recognized internationally as a standard for aircraft intended for personal or pleasure use. Although primary category airplanes can be used for instruction, they cannot be used in for-hire operations.

To promote sales further, Icon is offering a show special of two years of free scheduled service for airplanes ordered at the show. Buyers would put down a 20 percent refundable deposit and pay the balance on closing the sale. Icon is currently taking orders through December 2021 to June 2022.