OurPLANE Submits Bid To Eclipse On 28 EA500s
An orphaned fleet of 28 Eclipse 500 jets parked in
Gainesville, FL, following last month's collapse of air taxi
company DayJet, may soon have new homes. Light
aircraft fractional provider OurPLANE tells ANN it has
submitted a bid to purchase the aircraft.
OurPLANE, which has a total of 21 Eclipse jets on order with
Eclipse Aviation and operates an Eclipse jet from its Jacksonville,
FL location, has made an offer for the Eclipse jets, and will
immediately begin selling fractional shares on the jets through
OurPLANE's nationwide fractional aircraft program.
As ANN reported, DayJet closed its doors
September 19, a victim to the slumping economy and lack of
available venture capital... and, arguably,
an overly-optimistic operating model. Eclipse announced this
week it would handle the resale of the DayJet fleet, following
another Eclipse operator's attempt to secure bids from customers
against the orphaned aircraft.
Most of the DayJet planes are awaiting Avio NG upgrades, while
some are still flying without the earlier "ETT" aerodynamic
enhancements. None of them have modifications for flight into known
icing.
Despite those setbacks, Graham Casson, president and CEO of
OurPLANE, says his company will be able to better utilize the
fleet, in ways DayJet never could.
"While we were sad to see the demise of DayJet, the economics of
the fractional aircraft business model have proven themselves for
long term security and strength -- just look at NetJets -- unlike
the unproven air-taxi model," said Casson. "OurPLANE is in our 10th
year and our customers are clearly confident in the security of
their aircraft investment.
"While Eclipse Aviation has been through some growing pains
recently, the Eclipse VLJ is a solid product that OurPLANE wants to
continue to support as a fleet fractional operator," he added.
Terming Eclipse's latest woes as mere 'growing pains' is likely
charitable on Casson's part... as the fledgling planemaker has
essentially shut down production through the rest of 2008, as it
desperately seeks new funding and works to iron out a profitable
business model.
The offer, if accepted, would give OurPLANE by far the
largest single fleet of Eclipse 500s in existence.
"OurPLANE has made a fair offer to get the former DayJet
aircraft flying again and we look forward to working with Eclipse
to provide a superior product at a superior price point, which is
particularly important in the current economic environment," Casson
said.