Says Success "Never Relied Solely On DayJet"

Attempting to cast the closure of its single largest customer (by far) in the best possible light, Eclipse Aviation said Saturday it expects other customers will appreciate the opportunity to move their orders up.

As ANN reported, Boca Raton, FL-based DayJet shut down all passenger air taxi operations Friday, putting about 160 employees out of work and grounding all but one of the 28 Eclipse 500s DayJet had already taken delivery of... against a purported order for 1,400 planes.

"Eclipse Aviation is aware that DayJet Corporation eliminated most of its workforce Friday and ceased commercial air taxi operations," the Albuquerque, NM-based planemaker. With DayJet's orders included, Eclipse had claimed an order book for somewhere around 2600-2700 planes.

"While DayJet was Eclipse's largest customer, Eclipse's business model and success has never relied solely on DayJet," the company asserts. "Eclipse still has hundreds of orders to fill independent of DayJet, and existing customers will be happy and eager to move up in line. Eclipse also anticipates ongoing interest in the United States as well as fulfilling the strong demand for the Eclipse 500 in the global markets."

Eclipse noted DayJet attained some success in proving the "Per-Seat, On-Demand" jet air taxi concept could work... though that plan was done in by current economic woes.

"While DayJet was able to fulfill the demonstrated growing demand for this new market, the company was unfortunately unable to raise the capital it required to continue its operations in the current environment," Eclipse said. "The air taxi market is now a proven market and Eclipse anticipates other companies will look at the market to determine how the needs of the regional executive traveler can be realized."

With that, Eclipse was a bit more gracious to DayJet, than DayJet was to Eclipse.

In what could be taken as a parting shot against the struggling planemaker, DayJet pointedly noted Friday its start was "plagued by three years of delayed aircraft deliveries"... leaving one to wonder if DayJet may have proven more successful had it been able to start up as originally scheduled in 2005... when both lending markets and the state of the US economy were far more robust than they are now.

Continuing its possum-like stance with the media, Eclipse said it would not release any further information, or conduct any interviews beyond its media alert.

FMI: www.eclipseaviation.com, www.dayjet.com