German manufacturer Flight Design this week announced a very strong first-quarter sales in 2021.
According to the company, the new CT Super ultralight, CTLS LSA and F2 LSA/CS23 have had the best starts to a year since new investment in Flight Design in 2018, when Sven Lindig, the major shareholder of Lift Air, bought the company.
"We invested first in the production facility and replaced or repaired the majority of tooling and the equipment that would directly improve quality or production efficiency," said Flight Design Managing Director Daniel Guenther.
"Then we began to look at incremental improvements to the different products, reducing the empty weights, improved paint and finish, getting approval for 600 kg gross weight for the Ultralight CTLS series, a major equipment update and change to the EASA certified CTLS and CTLSi and so on."
For 2020, the CTLSi Grand Touring models (UL and LSA) went through a major product improvement with numerous changes including a more attractive and efficient cowling, improved cabin heating, new spinner, new wheel fairings and last but not least, a change to an all Garmin G3X avionics suite, which the company credits for strong interest from the market.
The F2, which can be certified LSA or EASA CS-23 with a 650-kg MTOW, has opened new markets for Flight Design with 60 aircraft now on order. The model's introduction to the USA has been particularly encouraging.
“The response to the F2-LSA In the US has been very exciting," said Flight Design USA President Tom Peghiny. "We have 19 F2-LSA currently on order and many of the customers have already owned Flight Design aircraft in the past. The changes and improvements are going to please our customers when they see the production models.
"The F2-LSA has benefited from the advanced testing done to the F2 in certified form and make this a much more mature product. The combination of the utility of the giant cabin, the very advanced safety features and the performance of the F2 are going to surprise folks.
"I personally think this is the start of something big.“
As a result of the strong sales during the first quarter, Flight Design has plans to expand production to cope with the higher demand.
Flight Design went into receivership in February 2016, but was kept afloat with investment from Lindig and Taiwanese dealer AeroJones. Lift Air bought the manufacturing operations outright in July 2017.