Eclipse Aviation CEO Vern Raburn announced at Oshkosh that one Eclipse 500 jet would be auctioned off on eBay and the owner could take it home right away, without having to wait until 2009 for their turn to come up. “We’ll let the market decide what that could be worth,” Raburn said, and this week, the company announced the results of its auction. Morten Wagner of Denmark placed the winning bid of $1,833,945 at 2 a.m. local time on August 11, outbidding five other contenders. Wagner plans to accept his Eclipse 500 in Albuquerque this week, the company said. “I was just sitting there, holding my breath, watching the auction run out,” said Wagner. “When I saw I had won, I was delirious; I woke up the whole house and told everyone I just bought an aircraft on Eclipse’s private marketplace.”
Wagner, a 35-year-old internet entrepreneur, plans to use the jet for business travel throughout Europe, and to travel between his homes in London, Spain, and Denmark. Wagner is a pilot and currently flies a Cirrus SR22. “The fact that we can sell an early Eclipse 500 on an open market for more than $1.8 million demonstrates the enormous demand for very light jets,” said Raburn.
