Eclipse Update

I have not put out anything on this subject in a long time but a lot has been happening and it is all good news.

Eclipse Aviation. Yeah, last we reported the company was bankrupt and up for Chapter 7 disposal by the bankruptcy court. It appeared all would be lost and there were many aircraft owners who had working aircraft that were going to be left holding a bag of promises with nowhere to go.

All that has changed.

Now operating under Eclipse Aerospace the new company was made possible by the purchase of the failed Eclipse Aviation last August by investors Mike Press and Mason Holland Jr. of Charleston, South Carolina. The new company initially will perform upgrades and maintenance of the existing fleet of 256 Eclipse 500 aircraft. Restarting the production will have to wait but there is already some talk about that. It would be nice to see new built aircraft coming off that line.

Adding to this good news is this: North American Jet has received from the FAA approval to fly their small fleet of 10 Eclipse 500 aircraft with a single Pilot. This was one of the original design concepts to keeping ownership costs as minimal as possible. North American Jet is a charter flight operator and is one of three charter operators that want to use the Eclipse 500 as a business jet substitute to the more expensive and larger private jet charters.

With some more luck and business acumen this may actually work out for not only the Very Light Jet aircraft business but the aviation climate in my old home, Albuquerque New Mexico, where the Eclipse manufacturing facility is located. Both the City there and the State had a lot riding on the success of the former company, hopefully this new company will realize that success.

BT: Jimmy T sends.