AircraftNews.Com

Eclipse was a game changer and an historic episode in aviation. When it finally fell on its sword or was forced to face reality many were deeply saddened but few were really surprised. it had all sounded too good to be true from the outset and so it turned out to be. The normal routine fighting over the corps has been prolonged but maybe it is over and perhaps just maybe Eclipse has a future and a secure place in Aviation.
Just yesterday a Federal Judge approved the $40 million purchase of Eclipse Aviation.
This gives the Albuquerque-based manufacturer a chance to restart production and support of its light jet.

The chairman and president of the new Eclipse Aerospace, Mason Holland Jr. of Charleston, S.C. said he expects the company to reopen its doors debt-free but on a smaller scale than its predecessor on Sept. 1.

“The old Eclipse was a great company. They made a great product, but the fatal flaw was they focused on growth first and profit second,” Holland said. “We’re going to focus on profitability first and growth second.”

The new company will do business as Eclipse Aviation but has no immediate plans, given the current economy, to restart production of the Eclipse 500 at this time.

The jet-making plant shut in February, putting 800 employees out of work. When the new company opens its doors next month, it will employ 15 managers and key engineers.

Eventually Holland envisions 500 to 600 employees producing several hundred jets each year, but Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez said the company represents more than just jobs.

“Eclipse is a symbol for the city of Albuquerque,” Chavez said. “I am so delighted in its rebirth, the fact the community was able to snatch victory from defeat.”

Within about six months, plans are to employ several hundred people and once the economy recovers and the company becomes profitable, to restart production.

“They believe they can make money,” Chavez said.

Mike Press of Chesterfield, Mo., who co-founded the new company with Holland and is its executive vice president, said revenue will come from $100,000 to $500,000 worth of upgrades on each of the 259 jets produced. The owners will be charged for the upgrades, though Press said prices have not been set. A Chicago-based service center began upgrading aircraft in June.

“We’re going to price it with some profit, but we’re not going to gouge the owners,” he said. The former Eclipse firm had told owners it would do the upgrades free of charge.

The company also plans to buy back aircraft from owners and fleet operators to refurbish them for resale.

Press said the new company will examine products manufactured by Eclipse that they can market. Among the assets is a patent on a non-ozone depleting fire suppression system, which could be marketed to other jet manufacturers.

Holland, founder of Benefitfocus.com, Inc., which employs 500 people in South Carolina, was a 60 percent deposit holder of an Eclipse 500 that was never delivered. He turned from pursuing litigation against Eclipse’s former owners to buying the company after he and Press — a retired Air Force colonel, former Northrop Grumman executive and light jet broker — met with Eclipse customers.

“We went to 27 cities in 15 days and we met with over 300 owners and deposit holders of Eclipse aircraft,” Holland said. “Every single pilot and owner, unanimously, loves the plane. That’s why we decided to buy the company.”

Eclipse’s troubles came to light progressively as customers found the compnay incresingly unresponsive and rumours began toi circulae4 about it sailong close to the financila wind. In July 2008 its founder and chief executive, former Microsoft executive Vern Raburn, was ousted in a management shake-up. A month later, the company laid off nearly 40 percent of its work force and last fall failed to make payroll.

Eclipse entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in November.

A federal bankruptcy judge approved the sale of Eclipse to its largest shareholder, ETIRC Aviation, in January. When financing failed to materialize by February, the company went into Chapter 7 liquidation.

Former Eclipse executives blamed the manufacturer’s downfall on the recession, but analysts criticized its business model as flawed by failed promises to produce a high volume of jets at low cost.

Holland says the days of over-promising and bad press for Eclipse are finished.

“No big promises, just good core business,” he said.

Let us hope.