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When it comes to personal jets, companies like Cessna and Bombardier are considered two of the industry’s key players. But there’s also Cirrus, which is actually a worldwide leader in personal aviation. Cirrus’s jets, including the SF50 “Vision Jet,” are manufactured and assembled at two different locations in the United States, though the company has been owned by the Chinese government since 2011.

Jet components, including the carbon-fiber fuselage and other parts, are designed and produced at Cirrus’s facility in Grand Forks, North Dakota. But the process doesn’t stop there. Once the parts are finished, they’re then transported for final assembly to the company’s plant in Duluth, Minnesota. The plant is actually located next to Cirrus’s headquarters at Duluth International Airport, where the planes are also tested and certified. After everything is ready to go, the aircraft are then flown to Cirrus’s Vision Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Cirrus delivered its 600th Vision Jet in 2024, marking a milestone moment for the company. It was especially important because, unlike other private jets, the Vision Jet is the only single-engine model to receive certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Cirrus has become so popular, in fact, that Vision Jets were the most delivered business jets in 2023. So, the SF50, while also being the smallest private jet, was also the most requested, with 96 planes delivered that year alone.

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Cirrus Vision Jets aren’t manufactured at the Vision Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, but that doesn’t make the facility any less important. In fact, the Vision Center is Cirrus’s customer-facing location of the company’s operations, handling not only delivery, but owner training, and maintenance as well. When pilots enter Cirrus’s training programs, they learn everything they need to know about the jet they’re flying, beginning with the use of advanced simulators. Trained technicians are also on-site, to ensure the Vision Jets are always in top form.

Cirrus first began in 1984, when brothers Alan and Dale Klapmeier began building airplanes in a Wisconsin barn. Their first successful plane was the VK-30, a 5-seat kit prop plane, which flew just 4 years later. The brothers continued to innovate and Cirrus began growing as a result, to the point that the company moved into a brand new facility in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1994. Cirrus’s production plant opened in Grand Forks, North Dakota, not long afterward.

As the 90’s rolled on, Cirrus began to shift its focus from kit planes, to the SR Series, and the SR20 jet, which was a turning point for the company. The same is true of the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, a genius safety feature that separates Cirrus Aircraft from the rest. By the time the 2000’s arrived, the Cirrus SR22 was in production, and would go on to become the top-selling general aviation plane globally.