Eclipse Could Rise Again, With Owners at the Helm

A $40 million bid for the assets of Eclipse has won the nod of the bankruptcy court, and the new owners hope to open the doors of the Albuquerque headquarters as early as next week. Two customers of the old Eclipse Aviation Corp. formed a new company, Eclipse Aerospace, to bid for the assets under terms of the Chapter 7 liquidation. Mason Holland and Mike Press offered $20 million in cash and an additional $20 million in notes. Of four groups that had expressed interest in acquiring the assets, Eclipse Aerospace was the only one considered by the court. Initial focus will be on restarting as a service company to support the existing 250-plus Eclipse 500 fleet with parts and addressing other maintenance issues. Also, the new company is focused on upgrading those Eclipse jets that have not yet received their approval for flight into known icing and/or received their Avio NG avionics upgrades. Eventually, Holland and Press hope to restart production but are not commenting on when that might happen.