manufacturer . for other uses see cirrus . cirrus aircraft type subsidiary industry aerospace founded 1984 founders alan & dale klapmeier headquarters duluth minnesota united states key people dale klapmeier co founder & ceo patrick waddick president innovation & operations duluth division todd simmons president customer experience knoxville division 1 don mcisaac executive vice president & cfo judi eltgroth senior vice president hr 2 products light aircraft owner china aviation industry general aircraft caiga number of employees 1 000 3 parent aviation industry corporation of china which is owned by the government of the people s republic of china . website www.cirrusaircraft.com the cirrus aircraft corporation formally cirrus design corporation 4 is an aircraft manufacturer that was founded in 1984 by alan and dale klapmeier to produce the vk 30 kit aircraft . the company headquarters is located in duluth minnesota united states . as of june 2015 cirrus had delivered over 6 000 aircraft in 16 years of production . 5 6 7 the company is owned by china aviation industry general aircraft caiga itself owned by aviation industry corporation of china avic which is in turn wholly owned by the government of the people s republic of china . 8 9 cirrus markets several versions of its three certificated models the sr20 sr22 and sr22t . it was planning to market a light sport aircraft the cirrus sr sport but suspended the project in 2009 due to costs and lack of market demand . this has since been cancelled . the cirrus vision sf50 single engine jet is currently under development . 10 contents 1 facilities 2 management 3 history 3.1 1980s 3.2 1990s 3.3 2000s 3.4 2010s 4 products 4.1 sr aircraft series 4.2 cirrus airframe parachute system caps 4.3 list of cirrus aircraft 5 references 6 external links facilities edit cirrus aircraft has its headquarters and main manufacturing facility in duluth minnesota . an additional manufacturing facility which produces the composite components for the planes is located in grand forks north dakota . the grand forks facility is owned by the city of grand forks and leased to the company . 11 on 27 december 2007 the company secured a lease for the former northwest airlines hangar at duluth international airport . the 189 000 square foot 17 600 m2 building was to be used for construction of its new cirrus jet . 12 cirrus canceled the lease in 2009 during the height of the great recession . 13 in february 2015 the city of duluth had agreed to put up us 6m and had asked the state contribute the remaining us 4m to build a us 10m factory on the duluth airport dedicated to the production of sf50 vision jets . the city would then try to recoup its costs for the facility from lease payments by cirrus over time . 14 on 6 may 2015 cirrus announced that it will establish a new facility campus called the vision center in knoxville tennessee on the city s mcghee tyson airport . the facility will focus on all customer interactions including training maintenance & repair personalization and deliveries for the vision jet and sr series . the center is slated to open by the middle of 2016 . all manufacturing operations were said to remain in duluth and grand forks . 15 16 management edit co founder alan klapmeier served as president from 1984 until january 2006 and chief executive officer ceo from 1984 until february 2009 . on 19 january 2006 cirrus made public that chief operating officer coo david coleal had been named president . 17 on 18 december 2008 the company announced that coo brent wouters would be appointed president and ceo effective 1 february 2009 . david coleal was no longer with the company 18 and alan klapmeier continued as chairman of the board with dale klapmeier as vice chairman . 19 on 1 august 2009 cirrus aircraft ceo brent wouters announced that alan klapmeier s contract as chairman of the board would not be renewed when it expired at the end of that month . 20 alan left cirrus on 21 august 2009 . 21 on 1 september 2011 the company announced that co founder dale klapmeier has been named ceo and that brent wouters previously president and ceo is no longer with the company . 22 23 on 12 march 2013 patrick waddick was named president adding this to his coo position . 24 in may 2015 cirrus reported that chief customer officer cco todd simmons will lead the new vision center in knoxville tennessee where all customer activities and operations for the company will take place . 25 history edit 1980s edit a cirrus vk 30 kit aircraft a cirrus designed israviation st 50 at the paris air show in 1997 in 1984 cirrus aircraft s founders brothers alan and dale klapmeier along with spouses jeff and sally viken started developing the cirrus vk 30 as a homebuilt aircraft in the basement of the klapmeiers parents barn in rural baraboo wisconsin . 26 after a few years in the design phase the brothers borrowed money to move the project to their own factory on the baraboo airport where they began flight testing . 27 28 the first flight of the vk 30 was on 11 february 1988 and kit deliveries commenced shortly thereafter . 29 1990s edit cirrus aircraft designed the st 50 under contract to israeli aircraft manufacturer israviation . the aircraft was configured like the cirrus vk 30 but was powered by a pratt & whitney canada pt6 135 turboprop engine in place of the piston engine used in the vk 30 . the prototype was first flown on december 7 1994 by norman e. howell . 30 that same year the klapmeier brothers moved company headquarters from southern wisconsin to a much larger facility in duluth minnesota . 27 31 in august 1996 cirrus announced plans to build a plant at the grand forks international airport in grand forks north dakota . 27 by the middle of the decade the company had discontinued the vk 30 and began development of the cirrus sr20 which was type certified in october 1998 . 32 this was followed by customer deliveries of the sr20 beginning in july 1999 . 2000s edit cirrus sr20 landing in june 2000 the company received an faa production certificate for its sr20 aircraft . 33 in november the same year cirrus received a type certificate for its next model the sr22 . 32 in august 2001 cirrus sold 58 % of the company for 100 million to crescent capital the us arm of the first islamic investment bank of bahrain now called arcapita . 34 26 35 36 in july 2002 the company announced that it would collaborate with the university of north dakota aerospace foundation to provide a new cirrus customer training program . 37 in february the following year cirrus delivered the industry s first ever all glass cockpit light aircraft . 37 38 in june 2004 cirrus received type certification for the sr20 from the european aviation safety agency easa . 39 that same year cirrus accomplished record breaking sales up 69 % over the previous year . the sr22 became the world s best selling single engine aircraft . 37 cirrus entered the civilian flight training fleet market with sr20 deliveries to sweden s lund university in january 2005 40 followed by university of north dakota and western michigan university . 41 42 cirrus sr22 front view in 2006 the company delivered 721 aircraft celebrating its 3 000th cirrus airplane off the production line only seven years after deliveries commenced . 43 37 that summer cirrus acquired a 25 percent stake in satsair a 2004 start up air taxi operator that flew 26 cirrus sr22s . satsair ceased operations on 24 october 2009 . 44 on 28 june 2007 the cirrus vision sf50 single engine light jet was unveiled . 45 at the 2007 eaa airventure oshkosh airshow the company unveiled the cirrus srs light sport aircraft . 46 a version of the b & f fk14 polaris the type never entered production for cirrus . in december 2007 arcapita stated that it was looking to sell its share of the company . cirrus aircraft indicated at the time of the announcement that this was expected as arcapita was considered a medium term investor . 12 in september 2008 the global sale slump in piston engined aircraft impacted the company and it laid off 100 workers or 8 % of its workforce . this included 79 people at the main plant in duluth minnesota and 29 employees at the composite construction plant in grand forks north dakota . after this round of lay offs cirrus had 1 230 employees remaining . company coo brent wouters stated that the lay offs were due to not selling as many airplanes as we d hoped to this year . 47 cirrus srs light sport aircraft fk14 polaris company ceo alan klapmeier announced in october 2008 that due to the economic situation and resulting lack of demand for cirrus aircraft the company was moving to a three day work week . he reported that sales were down 10 % over the same period in the previous year . compared to the industry average in that same period sales were down 16 % . klapmeier also indicated that introduction of the cirrus srs would be delayed until 2009 due to lack of demand in the light sport aircraft market sector but that the cirrus vision sf50 jet would not be delayed . 48 49 cirrus eliminated 208 employee positions in the fall of 2008 and cut aircraft production from 14 to 12 aircraft per week in response to the economic situation . in november 2008 the company announced that it would lay off about 500 production employees for one month to allow for reductions in excess stock of aircraft produced . 50 51 cirrus started recalling its workers on 5 january 2009 after the month long shutdown . the furloughed workers were called back slowly over the month to ramp up to production to eight aircraft per week compared to a company capacity of 16 aircraft per week . the company indicated at that time that it would retain the ability to reduce its workforce quickly as the economic situation and sales numbers dictate . 52 on 9 january 2009 cirrus announced that it would lay off 50 administrative employees and extend the lay off period for 100 of the 500 employees laid off over christmas 2008 . company spokesman bill king stated that the cuts were necessary or else the company would not survive the current economic crisis . 53 cirrus vision sf50 single engine very light jet in early february 2009 the company s new ceo brent wouters indicated that the future of the company would likely hinge on the vision sf50 jet design as production of the piston single engine sr series had fallen to 20 % of its 2008 rate of 16 aircraft per week . wouters characterized demand for new aircraft as awful and added we are increasing our focus on the jet because that is going to be our future engine for growth in my estimation . 54 in april 2009 the company announced that it was suspending the cirrus srs light sport aircraft project . it cited economic conditions that the aircraft required development an expanded flight training strategy and that the lsa rules were expected to change over time to allow lsas with a broader mission profile . 55 on 29 april 2009 the company announced that it was increasing production from the previous 3 4 aircraft per week back to 6 aircraft per week . the change was accomplished without recalling any laid off workers . the company stated we continue to see very encouraging trends in sales activities and interest from sales prospects domestically and