OurPLANE Submits Bid To Eclipse On 28 EA500s

An orphaned fleet of 28 Eclipse 500 jets parked in Gainesville, FL, following last month's collapse of air taxi company DayJet, may soon have new homes. Light aircraft fractional provider OurPLANE tells ANN it has submitted a bid to purchase the aircraft.

OurPLANE, which has a total of 21 Eclipse jets on order with Eclipse Aviation and operates an Eclipse jet from its Jacksonville, FL location, has made an offer for the Eclipse jets, and will immediately begin selling fractional shares on the jets through OurPLANE's nationwide fractional aircraft program.

As ANN reported, DayJet closed its doors September 19, a victim to the slumping economy and lack of available venture capital... and, arguably, an overly-optimistic operating model. Eclipse announced this week it would handle the resale of the DayJet fleet, following another Eclipse operator's attempt to secure bids from customers against the orphaned aircraft.

Most of the DayJet planes are awaiting Avio NG upgrades, while some are still flying without the earlier "ETT" aerodynamic enhancements. None of them have modifications for flight into known icing.

Despite those setbacks, Graham Casson, president and CEO of OurPLANE, says his company will be able to better utilize the fleet, in ways DayJet never could.

"While we were sad to see the demise of DayJet, the economics of the fractional aircraft business model have proven themselves for long term security and strength -- just look at NetJets -- unlike the unproven air-taxi model," said Casson. "OurPLANE is in our 10th year and our customers are clearly confident in the security of their aircraft investment.

"While Eclipse Aviation has been through some growing pains recently, the Eclipse VLJ is a solid product that OurPLANE wants to continue to support as a fleet fractional operator," he added.

Terming Eclipse's latest woes as mere 'growing pains' is likely charitable on Casson's part... as the fledgling planemaker has essentially shut down production through the rest of 2008, as it desperately seeks new funding and works to iron out a profitable business model.

The offer, if accepted, would give OurPLANE by far the largest single fleet of Eclipse 500s in existence.

"OurPLANE has made a fair offer to get the former DayJet aircraft flying again and we look forward to working with Eclipse to provide a superior product at a superior price point, which is particularly important in the current economic environment," Casson said.

FMI: www.ourplane.com, www.eclipseaviation.com