Russian, Kuwaiti Entrepreneurs Add Support to Eclipse Program

Ownership of the Eclipse 500 super-light jet program is becoming less clear after an equity investment by Russian perfume and Internet entrepreneur Ilia Lekach and his Nimbus Group, which has ordered 1,000 of the aircraft, and subsequent equity investment in his company by a Kuwaiti tycoon.

No-one will say just how much cross-equity investment is involved, but Beidoun Holdings has committed to make an equity investment in the Nimbus Group to become its affiliate air taxi operator in the Middle East.

Florida-based Nimbus has a vision of transforming itself into an air taxi service company, according to Lekach. "We will continue to aggressively seek alliances with existing air charter operators and brokers and make such acquisitions that can help us go forward."

Eclipse Aviation president and CEO Vern Raburn insists that almost more important than the money is the fact the Nimbus air taxi order is "validation of a market segment that we have been predicting."

Even before the $1 billion order was revealed, Raburn said, there was enough financial support in place to complete development of the Eclipse 500, which is still being priced at $837,500-shockingly low for a twin-engine jet.