Cirrus Aircraft sees opportunities ahead for GA, increases production rate

In a communication to all employees, Cirrus Aircraft announced today it is increasing its production rate to six (6) aircraft per week starting immediately. The increased rate follows nearly six (6) months of significantly reduced production rates that averaged approximately two (2) to three (3) fewer units per week than the new 6X/week rate.

We continue to see very encouraging trends in sales activities and interest from sales prospects domestically and around the world. The introduction of the new model year lineup in early January - including FIKI; Cirrus Perspective by Garmin across the line; X-Edition and more - have us very well positioned in the market place. Clearly, this is an upward move and is indicative of a stronger bias toward growth in aircraft orders. At the same time, targeted production output will continue to be determined on a month-to-month basis as this flexibility allows us to favorably position the organization to meet market fluctuations.

At this time, the increased rate will result in minimal impact to direct labor headcount, due in large part to recent significant efficiency gains achieved as a result of ongoing lean production initiatives. Cirrus Aircraft employees, customers, shareholders and partners have worked closely together to manage our business in spite of some very stiff headwinds recently, and though we remain in a very challenging environment, our hope is that this new rate is the first step and initial indicator of what will become a more substantial trend into the second half of the year and beyond.