Fri, Jun 04, 2004
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.
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