Safire Suspends Operations

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Even though Cessna and Raytheon are celebrating, all is not well in bizav land. Miami, Fla.-based Safire Aircraft Company announced on June 10 that it had “temporarily suspended most operations while it secures additional funding.” In a prepared statement, the company said it is “actively pursuing a very promising financing opportunity” but that, although it “had expected to have new funding fully in place by the end of May 2004,” Safire “encountered some unforeseen setbacks that have caused us to shift our negotiations and slightly delay the closing.” Those statements were attributed to company President and CEO Camilo Salomon. Safire Aircraft was founded in 1998 and began marketing and development of its six-place entry in the ongoing light-light jet sweepstakes, Safire Jet. Priced at $1.395 million, the company’s principal product was scheduled to make its first flight this year, with deliveries beginning in 2006. Safire expects this to be only a temporary setback. “There is no doubt that there will be some impact to the project. We will know more and be in a better position to assess that impact when we secure the new round of financing,” said Salomon. AVweb contacted Safire in an attempt to learn more about the company’s immediate plans but had not spoken with any company personnel by today’s deadline.

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