Icon Aircraft, the developer of the Icon A5 amphibious light sport aircraft, has received a $60 million cash infusion from undisclosed investors in North America, Europe and Asia, “led by a top-notch privately held strategic investor from China,” according to Icon’s CEO and founder Kirk Hawkins. Icon maintains full control of the management of the company.
The company claims the money will be sufficient to establish full-scale production and to perform research and development for future models. This is the fourth round of funding that the Tehachapi, California-based company has raised. But nearly five years after the Icon A5 was first announced at AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where the first flying prototype was shown, the company has yet to deliver its first customer LSA. And it doesn’t appear that the first delivery will happen any time soon.
