Icon Informs Customers
Longtime Icon PR guy Brian Manning wrote recently. He informed me he would leaving Icon at the end of this year, adding, “I’ve experienced all the ups and downs of a startup aircraft company over the years, and I’m very proud of the accomplishments along the way. I’m still yet to meet anybody who’s been up in the A5 who came away disappointed in the experience. It’s an incredible airplane that’s been a passion project for so many talented people over the years.”
Brian has been a dependable contact at the company for nine years. His talents will readily transfer elsewhere but his departure signals more than his own situation. He continued, “I would like to share a note that Jason Huang, the current but outbound president, wrote to some of our owners recently.”
“Icon Aircraft will be transitioning a portion of its manufacturing to a new, state-of-the-art facility in China,” wrote Jason Huang. “At the same time, Icon will maintain a strong North American presence at its headquarters in Vacaville, California.”
Jason elaborated, “On a personal note, I will be stepping down as president of Icon Aircraft. Our incoming president, Lily Hu, brings over 17 years of executive leadership experience and a proven track record of success. She will be supported by our exceptional leadership team, including Jason Courtney, Vice President of Production, and Noah Collins, Vice President of Marketing, Sales, and Service.”
Icon has been significantly owned by Chinese investors for several years but operations remained in North America with facilities in California and Mexico.
A move to China may come with benefits such as robotic and other advanced hardware. China has developed immensely in this regard but Icon’s timing may bring political challenges.
If China becomes the main manufacturing site for Icon with U.S. operations handling marketing, deliveries, maintenance and other customer services, the company may run into new tariffs proposed by incoming U.S. president Donald Trump. This could significantly increase the cost of an A5 LSA seaplane. Already one of the costliest LSA in the fleet, this wouldn’t help. And in mid-2025, here comes a new wave of competition: Mosaic LSA with higher capabilities. New president Lily Hu may be busy in the years ahead.
Flight Design Reorganizes… Again.
Two months ago, I reported that production was rising for Flight Design’s impressive F-2 that will quickly adapt to Mosaic. Despite that advance, the massive upheaval triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war is still taking its toll on the German designer.
Flight Design operates at multiple sites. Currently most manufacturing operations occur in the Czech Republic. The company and many personnel were forced to move after Russia invaded Ukraine. The earliest military operations were in Kherson, where Flight Design fabricated CT-series aircraft and began development of the F-2 line.
In a recent announcement the company, headquartered and owned in Germany, reported they had filed for what Germans call insolvency.
“The managing director of Flight Design general aviation filed for insolvency at the Meiningen district court on December 3, 2024,” the company wrote. “Outstanding debts in the mid-six-figure range and unpaid undisputed claims led to a liquidity bottleneck.”
After proceedings were initiated with the responsible district court in Meiningen, Germany on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024, the court appointed lawyer Marcello Di Stefano as provisional insolvency administrator.
According to an initial assessment, Di Stefano wrote, “After Flight Design general aviation GmbH filed for insolvency… [we see] good restructuring opportunities for one of the world market leaders in the construction of light aircraft.” He added, “The company’s order situation is good and the products have a very good reputation on the international market, and the outstanding debts are manageable.”
Aircraft on line in Sumperk, Czech Republic.
In the coming weeks, he sees one of his most urgent tasks as enabling the financing of business operations through “intensive negotiations.” Di Stefano continued, “This would make it possible to maintain the Flight Design Group with its EASA Design and Production Organizations and the F-Series and CT-Series aircraft and to finalize the existing orders and hand over the aircraft to the customers.”
U.S. importer Airtime Aviation was sanguine about this move. “Unfortunately [the insolvency filing] did happen,” confirmed Tom Gutmann, Jr. “But prospects look better afterwards. We just need to get through this first.”
Additional Details
According to Flight Design management, the insolvency application became necessary because, on the one hand, an international customer has not yet paid undisputed claims in the mid-six-figure range and another payment in the mid-six-figure range was also delayed. Management was looking for alternative financing channels and investors. In addition to a signed but unpaid contract for €1 million, the main company shareholder could not agree to a short-term offer from an investor.
Flight Design general aviation — based at Kindl airfield in Hörselberg-Hainich, Germany and production sites in Sumperk, Czech Republic, and Kherson, Ukraine — claims to be one of the world market leaders in the manufacture of light aircraft. The company is active in 48 markets worldwide.
Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the temporary occupation of Kherson, production in Sumperk had to be rebuilt. Deliveries and thus sales were ramped up in the summer of 2024. There are currently 10 employees working in Germany, as well as 70 employees in the Czech Republic and 20 employees in the Ukraine. Since the company was founded in 1988 and the production facility was set up in Ukraine in 1993, the company has delivered more than 2,000 aircraft.
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