US investor poised to join Sino Swearingen partnership
Sino Swearingen Aircraft (SSAC) will bring a new investor into the Taiwan-US partnership this month in an effort to lift annual output of its SJ30 light business jet into triple figures by late 2009.
"The deal is essentially done," says SSAC acting vice-president of marketing and sales, Mark Fairchild. "It won't change the daily business of the company it will change how the money comes in." Fairchild will not name the investor or the amount of the stake, except to say it is an "American-held investment company" and the infusion of cash will be "large". Sino Aerospace Investment of Taiwan owns roughly 90% of the company, and has pumped $600 million into the programme since joining in 1995. Swearingen Aircraft owns the remainder of the company.
The news comes as SSAC's first customer aircraft, serial number 6, gets its paint and finishing interior touches at Stevens Aviation, the North American authorised completion centre for the aircraft. Owned by Texas-based businessman Douglas Jaffe, the aircraft will be used as a factory demonstrator upon completion. SSAC plans to begin flying serial number 7 later this month, an aircraft ultimately destined for Action Aviation, the company's European distributor.
Fairchild says earlier problems with wing twisting on serial numbers 6 and 8 were caused by a tool that was both difficult to use and was being applied incorrectly, issues that have been corrected. "We've built two sets of wings now without the problem," Fairchild says.
On 20 December, the US Federal Aviation Administration granted the company an Approved Production Inspection System, an interim step toward full production certification once "another four or five aircraft are out the door", says Fairchild. SSAC has firm orders for 302 of the $6.2 million twin-jets and plans to build as many as 17 aircraft this year, although Fairchild says 10 is "more realistic". The company expects to build 30 aircraft in 2008, ramping up to 100 or more the following year.
Fairchild says the push for a new investor was partly driven by the desire to double the maximum production rate possible with a single line a secondary purpose was to introduce automation to cut parts counts and accelerate build time.
Source: Flight International
