Thu, Feb 26, 2009
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.
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