Dave Haslett, President and Chief Operating Officer said
“As the company is considering its options with respect
to its current situation and its future plans, we wanted
to give our owner group a full picture of the current
status of the company. Unfortunately, Avantair has
recently faced significant liquidity issues. Our
business model assumed efficiencies that never
materialized and a pricing schedule based on those
efficiencies. Over the past few months, we encountered
issues that drained the company’s working capital, and
it became impossible to recover without reassessing our
capital structure and business model.
“As our service was impacted and we were forced to
temporarily ground our fleet, charter costs skyrocketed
and our accounts receivable grew as it became
increasingly difficult to collect on outstanding amounts
due. This scenario is not sustainable and it is apparent
that Avantair must restructure its affairs in order to
emerge healthy and able to resume profitable operations.
In addition to restructuring the balance sheet, we plan
to revise our pricing to ensure profitable operations on
a going forward basis.
“The following are key points of which we would like our
owners to be aware; your aircraft are on the ground at
various maintenance locations and they are currently
insured, we have been in contact with key suppliers and
are pleased that most have expressed their ongoing
support and encouragement. Key among them is Piaggio,
which has offered to assist us in multiple ways, over
the next several days, the company will be validating
the fees we charge and a new business model will be
presented to the owner group. We are optimistic that a
viable and sustainable business plan will encourage
owners to support the new program. We also believe that
with a restructured organization and new business model
going forward, Avantair can emerge as a profitable
business that is able to provide the highest levels of
customer service.
Finally, we are in discussions with certain of our
vendors, lenders and other third parties to obtain the
working capital needed to restructure and fund
operations going forward.
“We will be in touch over the next several days with a
more detailed description of the company’s business plan
going forward. Customer service and satisfaction remains
of the utmost importance to us as we work to implement a
restructuring of our operations. We greatly appreciate
your patience and continued loyalty as the company works
through this difficult period”.
|