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November 21, 2010 - Mooney employees received unwelcome
news this week as the holiday season approaches. More
difficult decisions were necessary that will eliminate
many of the current positions at the company by year
end.
"We are not shutting down," said Mooney Chief Financial
Officer Barry Hodkin. "However, we cannot continue to
subsidize the company at the level we have in the recent
past. We have been in discussions with potential
investors for more than 18 months and will continue to
work with them. If things change then the scope of this
layoff could change." "We will continue to protect Mooney's assets both tangible and intangible," Hodkin said. "Those assets include the facilities and our certificates for production and manufacturing." |
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In addition, the company intends to continue to provide technical support to existing owners and a level of spare parts support for Mooney airplanes.Mooney began layoffs in 2008. At that time, the company employed approximately 500 people in the manufacture of its high-performance, single engine aircraft.
That year,
as the economy worsened Mooney started taking steps to survive
the economic downturn. On November 4, 2008, more than 200
employees were furloughed. Smaller reductions in force continued
until they reached today's employment level of 53. Hodkin said
negotiations with potential investors continue, but there have
been no commitments made to date.
The Mooney
Airplane Company (MAC) is a The first production aircraft to achieve 201 mph (323 km/h) on 200 hp (150 kW)) (M20J 201) and the fastest transcontinental flight in a single-engine, piston-powered production aircraft (M20K 231). All Mooney aircraft have the signature vertical stabilizer with its vertical leading edge and swept trailing edge that gives the illusion of being forward-swept. |
Mooney Aircraft
Corporation was started in 1929 by Albert and Arthur Mooney with funding
from Bridgeport Machine Company of
The first aircraft
produced by the new Mooney company was the small, single-seat, Mooney
Mite M-18. It was designed to appeal to the thousands of fighter pilots
leaving military service (some thought the Mooney Mite looked so much
like the Messerschmitt Bf 109 that they called it the "Texas
Messerschmitt".?
The Mooney Mite
established some of the design concepts still used by Mooney today. The
model Mooney M20 entered production in 1955 and outwardly resembled a
scaled-up Mite. Mooney is still producing variants of the M20 today.
In 2004, MASG
(AASI) sold off the Mooney assets to Allen Holding Finance in May, and
filed for bankruptcy on June 10. In December 2004, MASG restructured and
reacquired MAC (Mooney Aircraft Company) back from Allen Holding
Finance.
On April 4, 2006,
Mooney Airplane Company announced the release of their all-new M20TN
Acclaim at the 2006 Sun 'N Fun fly-in at
Mooney was a
publicly traded company after emerging from bankruptcy under symbol MNYG
(OTC BB) until October, 2006 when Mooney Aerospace Group arranged
financing to buy out public shareholders.
On Monday 16 June
2008 Mooney announced that it would lay off 60 employees and cut
production from eight aircraft per month to five. Mooney CEO Dennis
Ferguson said: ?These decisions will not have an adverse effect on the
quality or safety of our products, nor will they delay scheduled
aircraft deliveries. They were made to create corporate resiliency in
the present economic conditions.
?Our plans include
positioning Mooney as a strong contender in the international
market...We are strengthening our business in Europe, South America and
Australia, where Mooney's high performance, efficiency and pricing are
especially appealing. Our focus is to ensure the long-term viability of
the company through prudent management and expansion of our market
reach.?
The reasons for
the cutbacks and layoffs cited by the company include the weak |
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