Eclipse Future Could be Decided This Month

Owners of the 259 Eclipse Aviation Corp. jets now flying are getting a clearer picture of where the company’s bankruptcy proceedings are heading: Any new owner will offer maintenance and aircraft upgrades, but chances are slim that production will resume until the economy improves. An auction for the type certificate and assets by a Delaware federal bankruptcy court may occur this month, an observer said.

Two new contenders — Eclipse Jet LP and the Eclipse Owners Group (EOG) — are promising to establish maintenance and aircraft upgrade centers for the Eclipse 500 fleet in the event either one of them should win the auction. Upgrades are an important part of any maintenance proposal, said David Green, chairman of the Steering Committee for the EOG. "Not a single plane is fully functional," he said, meaning that although all are flyable, all lack one or more system upgrades originally promised, including avionics, navigation software, and de-icing capability.

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