Tough times for a success story

Posted at 7:51 AM on September 7, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Economy

I've written before that Cirrus Design in Duluth is one of the secret success stories in Minnesota. In Minnesota, it doesn't get much publicity because it's not in the Twin Cities. Outside of Minnesota -- at least in the aviation business -- it's a household name.

But even success stories have hard times and Cirrus, which makes small airplanes and is just getting into the personal jet business, is laying of 8 percent of its workforce. That's 74 jobs -- well-paying jobs -- in Duluth.

Comments (1)

I have nothing but respect for the Cirrus team in Duluth, but there is no denying their stuff is expensive and getting more so with each new iteration. My three-day visit to Oshkosh this summer left me with the impression that there is a lot of enthusiasm -- and hopefully a market -- for aircraft that are less expensive to buy (or build) and less expensive to operate.

I hope Cirrus is putting as much effort into the light-sport SRS as they are into the light jet category. The abundunce of light-sport mfgs will settle out over time with Cessna and hopefully Cirrus talking a leading role.

Posted by Mitch | September 8, 2008 9:19 AM

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