Dornier Rescued?

[seacue]

The March 27 issue of the Washington Post had a picture of Ben Bartel "owner of AvCraft Aviation of Leesburg, VA", and Wolfgang Walter of Dornier standing behind a model of the Dornier 328 Jet. AvCraft is said to have bought the German facilities that produce the 328.

[concordino]

Here is another article from ATW online.

Fairchild Dornier 328JET program purchased
Dateline: Thursday March 27, 2003

Aircraft services provider AvCraft Aviation, headquartered in Leesburg, Va., announced Wednesday in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, its acquisition of bankrupt Fairchild Dornier's entire 328JET program and its worldwide customer support operations in addition to other assets.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. "The 328JET has proven itself to be a workhorse and moneymaker for Regional airlines, as well as a dependable and economical business aircraft," noted AvCraft CEO Ben Bartel, 42. "Our primary focus now will be to expand and improve the 328 support organization into a world-class operation so that operators will have absolute confidence in the company behind the aircraft."
More than 180 328JETs are in service. The aircraft is priced at $11.5 million in standard airline configuration and $14.5 million for the Envoy 3 corporate version.

AvCraft, which Bartel said will operate henceforth under the name Fairchild Dornier, expects to begin delivery of 328JETs currently in inventory within 60 days and resume full-scale production within 12 months. The company acquired 18 ready-to-deliver aircraft as part of the transaction, plus five in various stages of final assembly.

Also acquired in the deal were Fairchild Dornier's state-of-the-art 328JET production, customer and material support facilities in Oberpfaffenhofen. The facilities currently employ 200 staff and the company said it expects to bring back as many as 300 additional employees over the course of the year.--Leonard Hill

[Captain104]

I recommend to be a bit cautious. According to press reports in Germany, the move to revive the 328 production has still to get a final ok by the Dornier family and is expected not before the end of next week.
The take over of the 728 project by the chinese XAC is now undergoing intense talks and far from reaching a final stage.

Regards