Hopes To Attract Contract Work To Stay Afloat

With the production line for its own aircraft idled by the global economic crisis, AAI Acquisition Inc. announced Monday it will provide engineering and manufacturing services to companies and organizations seeking composite design and technology expertise.

Tom Bisges, chief operating officer of AAIA, said the company has begun marketing its services to companies in the aerospace industry, as well as firms in the custom automotive sector, green energy developers and others that can benefit from the application of cutting edge, proven composite design and construction.

"Over the past decade this company has developed unique capabilities in its work designing and building new aircraft," Bisges said. "Now we are expanding our business portfolio to include engineering design, test and certification services as well as composite product manufacturing and traditional machining."

As ANN reported, AAIA -- which purchased the assets of the former Adam Aircraft out of bankruptcy earlier this year -- shut its doors last month, and laid off most of its workforce. The Russian-backed company also announced it had suspended nearly all certification and development work on the A700 twinjet, which at one time was considered one of the more promising entries into the now-slumping VLJ market.

The company stressed at that time it would retain a number of senior engineers, however... and it's now evident why. "With the current economic situation," Bisges continued, "we have decided to suspend our aircraft flight test and manufacturing activity until conditions become more favorable. As a result, we are now in a position to market our composite capabilities to clients needing those services."

In particular, Bisges said AAIA has developed a low cost, "out of autoclave" composite manufacturing technology that has been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The hope, said Bisges, is that AAIA can take in enough outside contract work to weather the current slump, so that full development of the A700 may resume once the economy improves.

FMI: www.aaiacquisition.com, www.industrial-investors.com, www.a700jet.com