I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
An aviation industry market research firm has forecast doom for Eclipse Aviation in 2009, the New Mexico Business Weekly reported recently.
Over the years, the nascent company brought in a lot of intellectual capital to the Duke City, creating a few thousand well-paying industry-related jobs, but the company’s risky business model — that it could deliver a fancy little jet to an eagerly awaiting marketplace — never met expectations.
Like a lot of industry, Eclipse fell on even tougher times in 2008, with more than 800 layoffs in August, but I personally hoped the company could find a way to ramp up production of its little jet and become the success story that our local politicians predicted (and subsidized) for so many years.
Instead, with its inability to deliver the number of planes it promised to customers (some of which are suing for a refund of their handsome down payment), compounded by an inability to sell additional planes over the past year, it looks like our former private-sector darling could be history.
Now that October has come to a close, the 30-day timeline to raise an additional $300 million in capital is about to expire. The company’s Dutch ownership, which took over in July, still thinks its possible to salvage the business, but there doesn’t seem to be much cause for optimism.
For example, the price of the Eclipse 500 went from $1.5 million to $2.15 million since July, and that was not the right direction for competitive pricing, apparently, in a rapidly declining economy.
The saddest part seems to be that folks at Eclipse still believe in the product.
“Obviously, with the economy the way it is, it’s probably not possible to get the venture capital,” a former employee told me today, adding: “I still have a positive outlook for the company, (because) people love the airplane.”
