Eclipse Aerospace Eclipse 500
The Eclipse 500 was the first very light jet to enter service, receiving FAA type certification in 2006 with the first delivery on 31 December that year. Eclipse Aviation delivered 260 before production stopped in October 2008 and the company entered bankruptcy; later owners upgraded many aircraft with the Avio NG avionics system, and the design was revived as the Eclipse 550.
In short: The Eclipse Aerospace Eclipse 500 is a Very Light Jet with a range of 1,125 nm, a cruise speed of 370 knots and room for 4 passengers. It lists at about $2.2M new and costs roughly $900 an hour to operate (estimate).
1,125 nm
Range
370 kts
Max cruise
4–5
Passengers
$2.2M
New price
Highlights
- First very light jet to enter service
- 260 built between 2006 and 2008
- Twin PW610F engines of 900 lbf each
Performance
- Range
- 1,125 nm
- Max cruise
- 370 kts
- Max Mach
- 0.64
- Max altitude
- 41,000 ft
- Takeoff distance
- 2,394 ft
- Landing distance
- Not published
- MTOW
- 6,000 lb
- Engines
- 2 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F
- Thrust per engine
- 900 lbf
- Fuel burn
- 64 gal/hr
- Avionics
- Avio NG (Innovative Solutions & Support)
Cabin
- Passengers
- 4 / 5
- Cabin length
- 12.3 ft
- Cabin width
- 4.7 ft
- Cabin height
- 4.2 ft
- Cabin volume
- Not published
- Baggage
- 16 cu ft
- Min. crew
- 1
Economics
- New price
- $2.2M
- Variable cost / hr
- $900
- Fixed cost / yr
- $300,000
- First delivery
- 2006
- Out of production
- 2008
- Units built
- 260
- Pre-owned range
- $0.8M – $1.9M
Estimates. Operating costs and pre-owned prices are modelled from industry benchmarks and updated quarterly. Data reviewed 2026-09-13. Sources & methodology.
Dimensions & weights
- Length
- 33.5 ft
- Wingspan
- 37.9 ft
- Height
- 11 ft
- Max fuel
- 1,698 lb
Programme milestones
- 2002-08-26First flight · Prototype first flight (Williams EJ22 engines) en.wikipedia.org
- 2006-07-27Milestone · FAA provisional type certificate en.wikipedia.org
- 2006-09-30Certification · FAA full type certificate en.wikipedia.org
- 2006-12-31First delivery en.wikipedia.org
- 2008-10Production ended · Production halted en.wikipedia.org
- 2008-11-25Milestone · Eclipse Aviation files for Chapter 11 en.wikipedia.org
Pre-owned range & Residual value curve
Pre-owned range
$0.8M – $1.9M
Estimates. Operating costs and pre-owned prices are modelled from industry benchmarks and updated quarterly.
Residual value curve
Estimated value retention over 10 years from new, by category depreciation model.
Year 10: 42% ≈ $0.9M
Compare with similar private jets
Compare: Eclipse 500 vs Eclipse 550 vs Citation Mustang vs Vision Jet SF50 G1 →