The bankrupt status of Eclipse Aviation finally ended in August after Eclipse Aerospace bought the assets of the very light jet manufacturer for $40 million. On September 1,
Eclipse Aerospace founders Mason Holland and Michael Press joined Albuquerque mayor Martin Chávez to celebrate the reopening of the factory at Eclipse’s headquarters at Albuquerque International Air- port. A federal bankruptcy judge in Albuquerque had approved on August 20 Eclipse Aerospace’s offer to buy Eclipse Aviation.
Eclipse Aviation spent more than $1 billion developing the E500 compact very light jet and built 259 of the model by the time the factory shut down. Eclipse Aviation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last November and attempted to reorganize, but a bid by Eclipse chairman Roel Pieper to take over the company failed, so Eclipse’s creditors placed the company into Chapter 7 liquidation
bankruptcy on February 24. Pieper and Eclipse investor Alfred Mann were to have raised $20 million in debtor-in-possession financing to help fund the company during the reorganization attempt, but it appears that Mann put up all the money. Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant wrote earlier this year that Pieper’s company, Etirc, itself was
insolvent and also that Pieper had been ordered to repay Mann the $10 million. Last year Pieper told AIN that his company had spent $150 million trying to rescue Eclipse.
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