Delivery hold-ups and cashflow problems see 328Jet builder appoint administrator
AvCraft Aerospace, manufacturer of the 30-seat Dornier 328Jet, has filed for insolvency and a court-appointed administrator has been assigned to assess its prospects.
US-based AvCraft acquired the twin-engined 328Jet line – located in Oberpfaffenhofen in Germany – from former manufacturer Fairchild Dornier, which itself filed for insolvency in 2002. The Leesburg, Virginia-headquartered company is headed by US entrepreneur Ben Bartel and backed by venture capitalists Dimeling, Schreiber & Park.
Wolfgang Walter, managing director of German division AvCraft Aerospace GmbH, says the company is examining options for a possible rescue. "The court has sent a preliminary administrator to us," says Walter. "He's already here in the facility and has started to assess the situation, discussing the possibilities we have."
AvCraft restarted 328Jet production last year, but Walter says the company has hit obstacles, notably in trying to deliver newly completed aircraft to Chinese customer Hainan Airlines.
"We have three aircraft in Hainan colours, built and completed," he says. "The first should have been delivered in July, the second in August and the third in September. Anyone can work out how much money I've lost because those Hainan aircraft have not been picked up."
He says that the company "might have survived" if it had only to bear the costs of the delayed deliveries. But the manufacturer had already committed to restarting production of the type, which had added to its expenditure.
Ironically, delivery problems with Hainan had also contributed – among other factors – to the collapse of Fairchild Dornier.
"We were very optimistic before. But because of problems with production, we ran into financial difficulties," says Walter. "We were unable to keep the company operating from the inflows.
"Our customers are still there, the operators are still there, we have started production and we've completed conformity inspections for two aircraft. We've proved we can build the aircraft – unfortunately, we've run out of money." AvCraft Aerospace employs 345 personnel.
Fairchild Dornier had also developed the larger 728 twinjet, but this did not fly before the company collapsed. The 728 line was also taken over by an external investor, Chinese firm D'Long, but this effort to resurrect the aircraft also ended in insolvency last year.
DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW/LONDON
Source: Flight International
