The rest of the aviation industry may still be struggling to recover from last year’s slump, but Aspen Avionics had a banner year in 2009. “We grew by 38 percent last year,” said CEO John Uczekaj at Sun ‘n Fun on Wednesday morning. “And we expect to keep that up, with 50 percent or so growth in 2010.” He credits new products as well as “organic” growth for the continued expansion. Uczekaj and his staff went on to announce multiple new upgrades, new products, new packaging, and some rebate deals. Among the new features, early next year the company will ship synthetic vision as a software upgrade for its Evolution 1000 PFD, for $2,995. The product is on display at the Aspen Avionics booth here at Sun ‘n Fun.
Other new products from Aspen include a line for helicopters, which was announced recently at Heli-Expo; an Evolution 1000C3 PFD certified for aircraft from 6,000 to 12,500 pounds, for $12,995, which will be available in July; an autopilot attitude interface for the EA 100, also available in July, for $2,495; and Evolution engine monitoring, available in the fourth quarter of 2010, for $495. In December, the company will release an Evolution Backup Display designed to replace legacy mechanical backup instruments, either as a retrofit or a factory install. That unit will be available in a landscape orientation, with seven backup functions in one unit, for a price starting at below $10,000. The company also announced rebates of $1,000 to $3,000 on several of its PFD/MFD product bundles. About 2,600 Aspen units have been installed since the company started to ship just about two years ago, Uczekaj said. More details on all the latest products and pricing can be found at the Aspen Web site.
