Advanced Aerodynamics and Structures Inc. (AASI) of Long Beach, Calif., last month took the first step in changing itself from a struggling startup airplane manufacturer toward becoming, in the words of Roy Norris, AASI’s new chairman, CEO and president, “the biggest lower-end general aviation company in the world.”
Norris and his new management team expect that step–the acquisition in late January of the secured creditor position of bankrupt Mooney Aircraft Corp. of Kerrville, Texas–to lead to AASI’s acquisition of Mooney, which has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since last July. This, the team believes, is virtually a “done deal,” as the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Antonio has already approved the basic elements of AASI’s plan. This includes putting up Mooney’s assets for sale, which AASI then plans to purchase. Others may conceivably bid on these assets, too, but the extent of Mooney’s debt to its primary creditor–now AASI–makes it unlikely that anyone else would try to outbid AASI. So sure is AASI management that this will happen that the company held a press conference at New York City’s fabled Wings Club in early February to make known its general intentions.
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