One Year To The Day Since Pieper Installed As Chairman

The next chapter in the ongoing, tired soap opera that is Eclipse Aviation will occur a little later than originally planned... but also has something of a cosmic twist to it.

Court records indicate a public auction for the troubled planemaker's assets will be held January 14, one week later than originally forecast. The Associated Press reports the auction will go forth providing there is more than one bidder for the company.

ANN has received several reports indicating at least one additional bidder will contest ETIRC Aviation -- Eclipse's largest shareholder -- for the company, though so far no one has publicly come forward. The deadline for bids is January 13.

As ANN reported, Eclipse filed for Chapter 11 protection November 25 in US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. That announcement followed months of turmoil for the inaugural very-light jet manufacturer, including the ousting of company founder Vern Raburn as CEO, employee layoffs and a well-publicized, pre-Thanksgiving delay in paying those employees that still remained.

ETIRC, led by current acting CEO Roel Pieper, intends to purchase Eclipse for $198 million. The company is technically still in operation, propped up by post-petition, debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing... though there's little (to no) sign of actual production underway at Eclipse's facilities in Albuquerque, NM.

It's not without some irony that the current auction date -- January 14, 2009 -- will be one year to the day that Pieper triumphantly announced ETIRC's expanded role in Eclipse, to the tune of a $100+ million investment that kept the company going through the first half of the year. That was also when Pieper (below) was named the "non-executive Chairman" of Eclipse.

Oh, how far he's come since then...

FMI: www.eclipseaviation.com