Redmond-based Stratos Aircraft plans to go public this summer with the 716X.

Commercial airlines have had a difficult few years. Travel restrictions, mask mandates and soaring fuel prices all reduced demand for their services.

But over that same stretch, a group of aeronautics engineers in Redmond had a productive time testing and tinkering on a jet of their own design.

This summer, Redmond-based Stratos Aircraft plans to go public with its finished product: the 716X. The single-engine, six-passenger plane will be marketed as a less expensive, more efficient private aircraft.

Carsten Sundin, the chief technology officer for Stratos, said the pandemic restrictions were not much of a problem for the company. It had its funding in place before the first economic rattles hit — and employees weren’t yet ready to go out to pound the pavement and entice buyers.

“We’ve been hunkered down,” said Sundin. “We have continued to do what we needed to do on the development side. It would have been far harder if we were at the stage when we needed to have customers traveling to the area to make sales.”

That time, however, is soon approaching. The company expects to start selling its jets in July or August, according to Sundin, who said the final product would be roughly “95 percent engineered and built in Central Oregon.”

Stratos operates out of a facility on Franklin Street in southeast Redmond. It currently has 18 employees, most of whom are longtime veterans of Central Oregon aeronautics companies, including Lancair and Epic Aircraft. Stratos’ Redmond operation includes both a composite shop and metal shop.

There were issues in the supply chain, of course. Machine parts — especially carbon fiber — became more difficult to find. Raw materials became more difficult to locate and were more expensive. The company started to order specialized parts months in advance to be sure each would arrive on time.

“The price change on some of the materials has been incredible,” said Sundin. “Aluminum has just about tripled in the last year.”

And then there’s the transportation industry, which was ravaged by COVID-19 lockdowns. Commercial flights ground to a halt as people canceled trips. Business travel took a major hit as more people worked from home and business conventions were canceled. And recently, a big jump in fuel prices has led to a big increase in tickets prices.

Sundin thinks the disruptions to air travel from 2020 to 2022 will ultimately benefit the company.

“I don’t see any issue with it,” said Sundin. “I think more people, if they can afford it, are going to want to fly privately (rather) than commercial. There’s just so many hassles … security, rules and stipulations.”

If sales go well, Sundin said the company is going to have to expand — and quickly. He did not want to speculate on how many employees would have to be added, but Stratos is likely to do significant hiring in its manufacturing division. Others will have to be added in sales and human resources, and more space could be needed to meet the demand.

“(The number of employees) depends on number of orders,” he said. “I expect that by early fall we will see what the response is and evaluate.”