Van's May Survive... But The Only Ones Apparently Doing Well Are The Lawyers...

The latest Van's Aircraft situational update has repeated a familiar refrain... that builders can eventually get what they paid for... but it's going to cost them more money... raising the necessary expenditures for completing one of these RV dreams well beyond what many had expected when they first started down the road as RV builder/customers... 

Unfortunately, we have a feeling that the sport aircraft industry will forever be tarnished as a result... as a significant percentage have decided to abandon/sell their projects and the tone of many discussion boards and social media posts take an ever darker turn. The current update answers questions about deposits paid for high-ticket items like props and engines... but offers little explanation as to why those monies weren't immediately sent to the vendor rather than apparently having been used to prop up the company's bottom line. 

The latest update states that...

"When Van’s filed for Chapter 11 protection in early December, many of our customers had open orders and deposits on various Van’s airframe kits and third-party items including engines, propellers, avionics kits, and powerplant kits. Several weeks ago, Van’s sent notice to customers with deposits on aircraft kits stating that these orders contained terms, conditions, and pricing that Van’s could not perform and that these orders needed to be modified or canceled. The deadline to modify or reject those orders is January 31, 2024. Since that notice, the rate of customer reorders has been high and we appreciate our customers’ support and engagement.

Over the past several weeks, we have been working through open customer orders and related deposits on hundreds of third-party items. In the next few days, we will begin sending official notices to customers with these open orders, informing them of the price changes that Van’s is making on each order. The official notice each customer receives will contain a link to a web portal where each customer can review their specific price increase. Customers who receive these notices will be given 14 days to decide whether to accept or reject these modified orders.

We realize that many customers with orders for Van’s airframe kits who are facing the January 31 deadline also have open orders for third-party items. Some of those customers have been waiting to see what their cost increases will be on these third-party items before deciding whether to modify or reject their airframe kit orders. If you receive an official notice to modify or reject a third-party item order and you have not yet decided to modify or reject your airframe kit order, your deadline to modify or reject your airframe kit order is extended to the same date by which you must decide to modify or reject your third-party item order.

Below is a summary of the approximate price increase by major group type on third-party components. If you accept our modified offer, Van’s will apply 100% of your prior deposit(s) toward the same product(s) on your revised order.

• Hartzell propellers: 3% increase to the original order price. (Due to special accommodations made by Hartzell, Van’s was able to keep this increase to a minimum.)
• Sensenich propellers:  6% increase to the original order price.
• MT propellers: 6% increase to the original order price.
• RV-12/12iS Avionics Kits: 6% increase to the original order price.
• RV-12/12iS Powerplant Kits: 6% increase to the original order price.
• Lycoming: either a 12% increase to the original order price, or 2024 pricing, whichever is lower.

We know these price increases create hardship for our customers. However, without taking these steps and making these price changes, there simply is not a feasible path forward for Van’s Aircraft. Increasing these prices allows us to remain in business to provide parts, kits, and support for the thousands of builders and owners of Van’s products, and to be around to support each of you for years to come."

FMI: www.vansaircraft.com