LAS VEGAS—As NBAA-BACE 2023 opens, Cirrus Aircraft is celebrating 500 deliveries of its single-engine personal jet, the SF50 Vision Jet, since the jet’s launch in 2016, with a Special Edition jet to commemorate the milestone..

The 500th aircraft will be delivered to the customer in the next few weeks.

The $3.29 million jet has undergone continuous upgrades, first with the Vision Jet G2 in 2019. The company unveiled the upgraded Vision Jet G2+ in 2021. The jet is equipped with Gogo inflight Wi-Fi, Autothrottle, Safe Return Emergency Autoland, the Garmin Perspective Touch+ flight deck and a ballistic parachute.

Cirrus has created five Limited Edition Vision Jet liveries to celebrate the 500th delivery milestone. Customers have the option of five exterior colors to complement the Obsidian black and Vision blue paint. The interior features blue, gray and carbon fiber materials. Crew seats are heathered gray with a leather shoulder and headrest with an embroidered 500th edition emblem. The center of the seat is embellished with diamond-patterned leather and other features.

“With the delivery of the 500th Vision Jet, Cirrus Aircraft celebrates the marketplace success of a category-defining aircraft,” says Zean Nielsen, Cirrus Aircraft CEO.

About half of the demand for the jet is from pilots of the Cirrus SR-20, SR-22 and SR22T, says Matt Bergwell, Cirrus Aircraft executive director of the Vision Jet product line. The Vision Jet is their first step into turbojet operations and a natural move up.

The SR and Vision Jet have similar cockpits and both have the same approach speeds, which makes the transition to the jet easier, Bergwell says.

About 20% of Vision Jet buyers are repeat buyers, while the remaining 30% are nonpilots who previously have flown charter, fractional owners or Part 135 fleet operators.

As demand for the Cirrus SR products grows, so do sales of the Vision Jet, Bergwell says. “You’re always going to have so many SR customers going into the Vision Jet,” he says. “As the SR series grows, we see the Vision Jet customer grow.”

That said, the company is starting to see “more mature operators” interested in the jet.

“The main reason why is because now we have 500 out there,” Bergwell says. “I think it’s become a pretty proven airplane."

The market has been robust, Bergwell says. The market has come off the post-pandemic “craziness” and has become more realistic.

In 2021, Cirrus delivered 86 SF50 Vision Jets followed by 90 in 2022, according to the General Aviaton Manufacturers Association data. It plans to deliver 90 or more in 2023. Traditionally, jet deliveries have grown at about 6% a year, Bergwell says