Eclipse Aerospace
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| Private company | |
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Fate | Merged with Kestrel Aircraft in April 2015 |
| Predecessor | Eclipse Aviation |
| Successor | One Aviation |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Founder | Mason Holland & Mike Press |
| Headquarters | Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States |
| Services | Maintenance and upgrades to Eclipse 500 aircraft Manufacturer of the Eclipse 550 |
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Number of employees
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60 (as of 27 December 2009) |
| Website | www.eclipseaerospace.net |
Eclipse Aerospace was an American aircraft manufacturer, maintenance and upgrade company. The company provided maintenance and upgrades to the Eclipse 500 fleet and was the manufacturer of the Eclipse 550. The company was formed specifically to purchase the assets of bankrupt Eclipse Aviation, for which it paid US$20M in cash and US$20M in promissory notes in August 2009.
In April 2015 the company was merged with Kestrel Aircraft to form One Aviation.
Eclipse Aviation, the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based manufacturer of the Eclipse 500 very light jet and the company that was developing the Eclipse 400 single-engine jet, was founded in 1998 and entered bankruptcy on 25 November 2008. Initially Eclipse Aviation entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but when the sale of the company to its largest shareholder failed it was forced into Chapter 7 liquidation instead.
On 31 July 2009 Jeoffrey L. Burtch, the appointed Chapter 7 Trustee, filed a motion requesting the court's approval to sell the assets of Eclipse Aviation to Eclipse Aerospace a new company headed by Mike Press and Mason Holland, initially based in Charleston, South Carolina. The court-filed documents indicated that the assets would be sold for US$20M in cash and $20M in new notes, subject to other offers coming forth at an auction. The filing stated that if the directed sale to Eclipse Aerospace was not completed due to the auction proceeding, then Eclipse Aerospace would receive a US$1.6M "Break-Up Fee" instead. The trustee indicated to the court that he felt that this measure was justified to encourage movement towards an auction. He stated that 30 organizations had expressed interest in the assets, 12 had signed non-disclosure agreements and received complete information and six had completed tours of the Eclipse facilities, "however, prospective purchasers were either hesitant to make the first public bid, were unable to obtain financing, required unacceptable conditions to closing, or otherwise backed out." Without approval to pay for a bid and hopefully create an action, Burtch indicated that he would "most likely be forced to abandon or liquidate the Eclipse Assets on a piece meal basis."
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Wikipedia