Three companies hope to buy out Victorville Aerospace

April 24, 2009

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Apr. 24--VICTORVILLE

--Three companies are proposing to buy out Victorville Aerospace and assume a bill for $1.4 million in delinquent rent, pending approval from Houston's U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The airplane maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at Southern California Logistics Airport opted to file for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September.

As part of that process, the council approved rolling the company's past-due payments into a five-year note in closed session Tuesday night, to be taken on by the three companies.

Pacific Aircraft Leasing and Management, Source One Aircraft Repair and Aircraft Marketing, Inc. -- owned by SCLA's marketing director Jim Worsham -- will take over the five-year-old business, if the bankruptcy court approves the repayment plan. Until then, spokeswoman Yvonne Hester said no formal agreement is yet available.

Victorville Aerospace, which has worked on planes for Boeing and Lockheed, did not respond to two calls for comment on the agreement.

In December executive vice president Bob McAndrew told the Daily Press that business had been good and that they hoped to be out of Chapter 11 by January. However a secretary at Victorville Aerospace said Thursday that Andrews is no longer with the company.

The Daily Press was told that Victorville Aerospace was more than $1 million behind in rent nearly a year ago. When asked last May if any SCLA companies were past-due in rent, Airport Director Peter Soderquist said he didn't consider someone delinquent until they were three months or more behind, and no SCLA companies fit that criteria.

Hester said she didn't have information about how long Victorville Aerospace has been delinquent.