Mooney Website Down- is Mooney down, too?

SCCutler

SCCutler

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Spike Cutler
The website is inop;

On another board, poster says (unverified, I emphasize) that they were unable to pay for insurance renewal, and were thus unable to flight test aircraft for delivery.

Has anyone any confirmation or refutation on this?


Tough times...
 
Rumor has it there have been resignations of the CEO and many on the board of directors. Ominous.
 
Their main line and sales 800# still work.

The main line still says "we'll be closed for the holidays, starting December xx and returning January yy" (and we're way past yy)....
 
thats not good, I hate wonder how far all of this will go.
 
This is quite depressing. It's such a great airplane.
 
Website is back up. They just had technical gremlins that have been fixed. No idea about the other rumors though.
 
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/110175/

Piper cutting the workweek to 4 days, shedding 150 folks, and cutting production 40%.

No shock here.

If I had to guess, there will be few Malibus and even fewer Meridians made this year. Last year I think they made 25 'Bus. Matrix did well; production sold out. I'm going to guess they made about 150 planes last year. 40% is 60 planes - I'll WAG 60 Matrix, 10 'Bus, 5 Meridians, 5 Warriors, 5 Seminoles/Senecas/Archers. They still have some overseas sales for the trainers.

Mooney's product line is so limited, I think it's just a matter of time.
 
As far as I can tell, Mooney's product line has always been limited, and they have always been a niche market (which is hard when you consider that GA is a niche market to begin with). I'd hope that they find some individual Mooniac with enough money to buy up the company and keep it afloat until the market upswings again. They've got a great plane and a great advertising campaign - if I had the money and it fit what I wanted in a plane, I would probably buy one.

It's great for Piper that the Matrix has been doing so well for them. I'd think that the split up is probably not quite that broad, but I could be wrong. Certainly the Warrior/Archer/Seneca/Seminole leaves a lot to be desired, as not enough has changed in the past few decades to make it a worthwhile option for many folks.

Basically, no surprises. Everyone is going to be hurting until the market starts its upswing again. Hopefully, the interest in GA can be grown so that when it does swing up again there will be more interested parties. Ultimately that helps everyone.
 
Headline in AOPA ePilot this morning:

Mooney in 'superhibernation'

Sources indicate that another round of layoffs has occurred this week at the Mooney Airplane Company's Kerrville, Texas, factory. From a high of some 400 employees just a year ago, Mooney now has a skeleton staff of a mere 50 or so employees. The exact extent of the layoffs has never been released. Mooney production has ceased, and the company has gone into what it calls "superhibernation." Mooney is adopting a wait-and-see strategy until the economic situation improves.
 
Keeping the powder dry- I respect that. I hope they can survive.
 
I hope any of them can survive. Seems like a perfect storm of idiot security requirements and economic downturn.
 
Best of luck to them. It's a shame that production ceased, although I can't say I'm completely surprised given the fact that they sold relatively few planes per year anyway.

In the mean time, hopefully providing parts to the existing fleet out there (like the Mooney I fly) will keep them afloat until things improve. They really make an awesome plane.
 
Consolidation may be coming soon. Maybe some of the larger fish will eat some of the smaller fish, and they be able to keep making some planes.
 
bullwinkle said:
Consolidation may be coming soon. Maybe some of the larger fish will eat some of the smaller fish, and they be able to keep making some planes.
Click to expand...

Cessna already bought out Columbia, and Cirrus I don't really see getting bought out. While it would be somewhat ironic given the history behind the two, I could see the Mooney being a nice addition to the Piper lineup... something that's not in the Malibu size class, but still maintains the speed with some awesome fuel economy, at a more affordable price than even the Matrix.

I doubt it'll happen, but I'd vote in favor of a Piper acquisition of Mooney, even though I'm sure others would cringe.
 
I can't see any of the aircraft manufacturers in the US acquiring Mooney. They have no new technology (unlike Lanceair) and compete with the higher end products of each of the extant manufacturers.
 
According to this morning's "E-Pilot" newsletter, Mooney has let go all but 50 people and is in 'superhibernation'.

-Skip
 
steingar said:
I can't see any of the aircraft manufacturers in the US acquiring Mooney. They have no new technology (unlike Lanceair) and compete with the higher end products of each of the extant manufacturers.
Click to expand...

Mooney's been down and out and written off for dead a bunch of times since the late '60s or early '70s.

The tech may not be cutting edge composite, but the upper end models compete closely with newer gen (Cirrus & Columbia) product. I knid of like the idea of a steel tube frame around me. Look at wrecked Mooneys and Bellancas compared to, say, a wrecked Cirrus where they get out a broom and dustpan to clean it up.


Trapper John
 
Trapper John said:
Mooney's been down and out and written off for dead a bunch of times since the late '60s or early '70s.

The tech may not be cutting edge composite, but the upper end models compete closely with newer gen (Cirrus & Columbia) product. I knid of like the idea of a steel tube frame around me. Look at wrecked Mooneys and Bellancas compared to, say, a wrecked Cirrus where they get out a broom and dustpan to clean it up.


Trapper John
Click to expand...
Mooney will rise again; I'm aware of four bankruptcies in my flying lifetime.... It is unlikely, however, that they will ever accomplish the Klapmeier's Volume of Production model. Their product is still stellar even compared to Columbias.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Cessna already bought out Columbia, and Cirrus I don't really see getting bought out. While it would be somewhat ironic given the history behind the two, I could see the Mooney being a nice addition to the Piper lineup... something that's not in the Malibu size class, but still maintains the speed with some awesome fuel economy, at a more affordable price than even the Matrix.

I doubt it'll happen, but I'd vote in favor of a Piper acquisition of Mooney, even though I'm sure others would cringe.
Click to expand...

Piper doesn't like four seat airplanes. :no: :mad3:
 
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