Financial Problems Reportedly At An End

Recent reports of financial problems at Safire Aircraft were confirmed yesterday by President and CEO Camilo Salomon. ANN had received several insider reports of a number of financial difficulties that included  missed and late payroll (two periods, accordingt to one report) that cast a pall over the fledgling Bizjet manufacturer. Citing a "slight hiccup in funding," Salomon admitted that they had been through a rough spot, but that the future looked a bit brighter when questioned, late Thursday.

Salomon reports that the payroll and associated problems have been brought current, and that a very recent capital infusion should give them sufficient cash to see the Safire through to it's first flight later this year. Solomon explained that the recent windfall was not one that had been disclosed previously, and that the deal was the culmination of three months of negotiations.

He refused to disclose much detail at this point, only revealinmg that the investment capital was provided by a private equity group from Switzerland. Salomon did note that he did not expect the recent hiccup to add much to the timeline for the Safire's upcoming first flight, allowing that, "it might push it back a week or two."

It's been a tough year for Safire, which is attempting to enter the burgeoning microjet market pioneered by Eclipse Aviation and reinforced by Cessna's Mustang entry. In late April, a staff shake-up wound up reassigning much of it's senior management structure in order to streamline operations and create a news, but smaller, sales group. The new sales group was comprised of five individuals who had formerly served other functions for the Company. Miguel Correa, the Chairman, was selected to lead the new sales and customer support organization. Michael Margaritoff, the Founder, was appointed as Vice President of Sales. Miguel Vasquez was made Vice President of Sales Administration while Jayson Gehri took on the role of Customer Support Representative. Jane Poling was tasked with providing sales and customer support. The resulting sales and marketing group was a much smaller variant of what it had been before.

The Company's six place twin-turbofan-powered Safire Jet, priced at $1.395 million, is (optimistically) scheduled to make its first flight later this year, with deliveries beginning in 2006.

FMI: www.safireaircraft.com