Cessna Sets Up Shop At Former Columbia Plant

Cessna moved quickly this week to establish a company presence in Bend, OR. One day after successfully bidding for the assets of the former Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Company, officials with the Kansas-based planemaker arrived at the aircraft plant to cheers from workers.

"We intend to grow this and intend to make the necessary investments so it can continue to be not only the world-class product that it is today, but so that it has a future fitting into the Cessna family," Cessna CEO Jack Pelton said Wednesday, fresh from a trip to China.

As ANN reported, Cessna's buyout of Columbia means workers in Bend will continue building the same aircraft, albeit under a different name. Cessna will ditch the Columbia moniker, in favor of the Cessna 350 and 400.

"I think it's wonderful," Columbia worker Chad Sparks told KTVZ-21. "We finally get the support we need to make sure we have a long-term job, instead of wondering constantly if we're going to be here next month."

Others aren't so happy, however. The low $26.4 million pricetag Cessna will pay for Columbia means many creditors won't be paid... among them Columbia dealers, who will no longer have a plane to sell unless they're also a Cessna dealer.

"We are not a Cessna dealer, of course, so on that side of the coin, we are disappointed and are looking at the possibility we will not be representing Columbia on the sales side going forward very much longer," Seattle-based Galvin Flight Services president Peter Anderson said. "It creates a hole for us for a year and a half or so, but it certainly is something that is not going to be catastrophic."

In better news, warranties for existing Columbia owners will be honored by Cessna... and the planemaker plans to increase production.

"On a very paced effort, we will ramp up production to meet what those new order back-ups will be," said Pelton. "I'm not going to commit to what that means for employment, because I'm not close enough to know what that will take and what the timing of the ramp-up will be."

If you still want to own a plane with a "Columbia" logo on it, you'd best lay your claim to a model built before December 4. That's the day Cessna will begin putting its name on planes made in Bend.

FMI: www.cessna.com