Eclipse Services And Support LLC Aims To Keep Orphaned Jets Flying

Eclipse 500 air-taxi operator Linear Air announced Wednesday the formation of Eclipse Services and Support LLC, a cooperative entity intended to allow owners of the 250+ Eclipse 500 very light jets in operation to acquire from the now-bankrupt planemaker the intellectual property and other assets relevant to the ongoing technical, maintenance, parts and other support required to upgrade their aircraft to final configuration and keep them flying into the future.

The news follows the filing of a motion by Eclipse Aviation Corporation's main debtors Tuesday to convert their bankruptcy case from reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code to liquidation under Chapter 7.

"Despite the struggles of Eclipse Aviation Corporation, culminating in this Chapter 7 liquidation, it's clear from our work at Linear Air that the Eclipse 500 VLJ is well-worth supporting and we believe the owners of the several hundred Eclipse 500s in the fleet will agree," said Bill Herp, CEO of Linear Air. "We believe we can offer a unique set of expertise to owners by leading the formation of Eclipse Services and Support LLC as a cooperative of aircraft owners. The cooperative structure offers the best method for owners to receive the upgrades and support they need going forward at the least cost to them. We're looking forward to building out the co-op as the Chapter 7 process progresses."

Eclipse Services and Support LLC will begin contacting Eclipse 500 owners and forming the cooperative immediately, in order to parallel the Chapter 7 process and submit a winning bid to the court for the relevant assets as it proceeds over the next 90-plus days.

Linear Air says Eclipse aircraft owners who join the cooperative will provide the initial funding to acquire the assets necessary to support the fleet going forward. In exchange, they will receive upgrades and ongoing support at the cost of operating the cooperative.

Eclipse Services and Support LLC will be affiliated with Linear Air to leverage Linear's existing investment and expertise in the maintenance and operation of Eclipse 500 aircraft for charter and air-taxi. Linear Air is the only FAA-certified commercial operator of the Eclipse 500 on the east coast of the US and has extensive experience maintaining the aircraft, training pilots and generating revenue from charter operations for its current base of Eclipse 500 owners.

FMI: www.linearair.com