Lights Out for DayJet

By: Chad Trautvetter

November 20, 2008
Charter

Per-seat, on-demand very light jet (VLJ) air-taxi firm DayJet last Friday filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy (liquidation), just four days after company founder Ed Iacobucci expressed doubt at a VLJ air-taxi conference that the Boca Raton, Fla.-based charter operator would be resurrected. The company ceased operations on September 19 and its 28 Eclipse 500s were subsequently repossessed by Eclipse Aviation and United Technologies Finance, a sister company to Eclipse engine supplier Pratt & Whitney Canada.

DayJet leaves behind a 60-page list of creditors, apparently mostly customers who used the per-seat, on-demand service. The bankruptcy documents, filed in the Delaware District U.S. Bankruptcy Court, list DayJet Corporation, DayJet Leasing LLC and DayJet Services LLC as debtors, with $3,277,180.47 in assets and $3,871,666.51 in liabilities.

The largest debts owed include $1.2 million (listed as a disputed amount) to Eclipse; $574,000 to WingedFoot Aviation Holdings, a charter company owned by Iacobucci and holder of DayJet’s Part 135 charter certificate; nearly $370,000 to Avcard; and $312,000 to Eclipse’s training division, among others. According to minutes of the last board meeting included in the bankruptcy filing documents, DayJet executives tried several last-ditch efforts to save the company.

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