Swiss startup Aviace Ltd claims that VLJ manufacturer Eclipse Aviation has canceled delivery of 112 aircraft order.

In the claim, Aviace states that the agreed upon price per aicraft of $1.045 million was increased during production by $634,305 and eventually canceled when payment was not received on the increase.  Aviace claims that Eclipse has breached their original agreement by bumping delivery of the newly certified Eclipse 500 VLJ aircraft to fullfill other orders.   Aviace's claim also states that Eclipse is determined to terminate the purchase agreement to allow Eclipse to sell the aircraft at a higher profit than the original agreement.

The original agreement was for Eclipse to deliver four aircraft in 2004, eight in 2005 and the remaining aicraft in 2006.  Production delays and a vendor change for the Eclipse 500 engines caused a delay in delivery for not only Aviace but all pending Eclipse orders.

Aviace also claims in the suit that the original agreement included a "Most Favored Customer" clause that ensures that its cost per aicraft would not exceed the price granted to any customer ordering equal to or smaller numbers of aircraft.  A $2.10 million deposit, or 20 percent of the list price for the first 12 aircraft, was made in January as per the agreement.

Eclipse informed Aviace last month that the order was being cancelled due to non payment of the addition $634,305 invoice and that Eclipse reserved the right to reassign delivery of specific aircraft to other customers.  Additionally Eclipse would keep $167,500 of the original deposit as damages.

A motion filed by Eclipse states that Aviace plans to re-sell the aircraft thus being in direct competion with Eclipse's own sales team.  Eclipse also claims that Aviace's web site claimed a sales price of the aircraft of $1.65 million and included statements outlining and inventory of more than 20 "early delivery positions".  Aviace's web site www.aviace.biz was not available for review while writing this article.