After restarting production in Kerrville, Texas, following a hiatus, Mooney has seen strong interest in the turbo-normalized Acclaim Type S — the fastest single-engine piston airplane on the market — along with its normally-aspirated sibling, the Ovation 3. Mooney announced this week that since the first Acclaim was delivered at AirVenture this summer, where 10 orders were booked, the company has logged another 43 orders — a mixture of Acclaims and Ovations worth approximately $30 million, a Mooney representative said.
Most of those recent orders came from two China-based companies: the Reignwood Aviation Group and Xinzhichen Trading Company, which signed letters of intent for 35 airplanes at the 2014 Reignwood Aviation Carnival Show, held September 12 through 14 in Zhengzhou, China. The remaining eight airplanes were ordered by U.S. customers.
Since the restart Mooney has so far only delivered one Acclaim Type S, an airplane that had progressed quite far down the production line before the 2008 production shutdown. Mooney expects to deliver two airplanes by year-end and will ramp up production to two airplanes a month in early 2015. By the middle of next year, the company expects to start delivering three airplanes per month, after which the production rate will be based on customer demand. All of the airplanes that are currently on the books are expected to reach their customers within the next two years.
The standard price for the Mooney Acclaim Type S is $699,000 while the Ovation 3 sells for $649,000.
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