Their chalets at ILA may have been next-door but one, but as they traded accusations at respective press conferences there was little neighbourliness between Diamond Aircraft and the court-appointed lawyer administering the affairs of its insolvent engine supplier Thielert Aircraft Engines.
The German company's financial crisis has for the past month stopped production of Diamond's diesel-powered DA40 piston single and DA42 twin, the only production aircraft offered with TAE's Centurion 2.0 powerplant. The Austrian airframer, which has factories near Vienna and in China, is also unable to supply engine spares.
However, even though TAE last week resumed pre-paid parts deliveries to customers - which include operators of retrofitted Cessnas and Pipers - the impasse with Diamond continued. At the show, Diamond chief executive Christian Dries accused TAE's provisional administrator Bruno Kübler of "arrogance" over a euro 1.2 million ($1.86 million) price tag for a consignment of spare parts Dries says was worth a fraction of that. Kübler, in turn, said "disconcertion" on the part of Thielert customers had been down to "a disinformation campaign initiated by the airplane manufacturer". This campaign, he said, suggested he was unco-operative and "did not seem very interested in securing the TAE business in the long term". The claim, said Kübler, "is a blatant misrepresentation of the facts".
Diamond flew three aircraft to ILA powered by its new 170hp Austro AE300 2.0 diesel engine, which it has been developing in-house for the past year - a DA40, DA42 and the new DA50 Magnum. The company's problem is that - although it plans to offer the AE300 as an original and retrofit in its aircraft once the powerplant is certificated around September - it currently has no production engine apart from the Lycoming avgas units used to power some of its aircraft for the US market.
Dries says he hopes deliveries from TAE will resume once the end June deadline is reached for the administrator to take a decision on the future of the company, which is based in Lichtenstein in eastern Germany. Dries plans to continue offering the Centurion engine as a cheaper alternative to the Austro. "If Thielert survives, the customer will have a choice," he says.
Earlier, Kübler expressed confidence the company could be rescued. "My team and I have largely succeeded in convincing banks and suppliers that it is in their interest that the company continues to operate," he said. He warned, however, that customers and creditors were likely to have to make "some painful compromises".
The appearance on the platform at the TAE press conference of founder Frank Thielert - sacked as chief executive last month following the insolvency and under investigation over accusations of financial impropriety - surprised many. Kübler justified his role, saying Thielert was still managing director of the company and the personal holder of several of its permits under German law. As such his involvement was endorsed by the German federal office of aviation.
Source: Flight International
