Epic Aircraft is making a profit as it rearranges its business model, but certification efforts have not accelerated as planned, with a $200 million investment from Kingfisher Airlines owner Vijay Mallya on hold.
“Vijay still has not made the investment he's committed to, so Epic continues on,” says CEO and President Rick Schrameck, Mallya’s plan, announced at the 2007 NBAA Convention, was to purchase half of Epic and build its aircraft in India.
The two men are on good terms and remain in touch, Schrameck adds, but Mallya is in “a holding move right now”. The Airbus aid for Epic’s certification efforts also announced a year ago has not occurred, though EADS officials have visited Epic’s Bend, Oregon headquarters.
Testing continues for the Dynasty turboprop, 380 hours of test flights. The Victory personal jet, which is on static display here, has flown for about 200h. “The first forming Escape is just starting construction,” Schrameck says, who will decide next week whether to seek certification in the US.
The Elite VLJ has stalled in development as it sits in a hangar Tblisi Aircraft Manufacturing in Georgia. TAM is co-developing that jet with its own plans for the Russian market, though these have also stalled following that country's recent invasion of Georgia.
Schrameck cannot say if the runway there has, in fact, been bombed or not. “Here's what I was told: the airport was bombed,” he says, adding the local damage is insignificant when the airspace is still under threat from Russian forces.
Back home, Aircraft Investor Resources is already the parent company of Epic, with Schrameck as majority owner. It'll now be the public name of the company, with the Epic name attached to either the experimental or certified line-up. The third and fourth subsidiaries will outsource talent and proprietary methods.
Composite Aero Structures will build composite pieces for other aircraft manufacturers or companies in other industries looking to composites. The Air Design/R&D group, Schrameck says, “can get you in the air, designed from scratch, in less than a year”.
Source: Flight Daily News
