German company Flight Design, manufacturer of the CTLS and F2 range of aircraft, has filed for bankruptcy in a German court.
The company filed papers on 3 December, claiming a six-figure debt and outstanding disputed payments have led to a liquidity issue.
The court appointed lawyer Marcello Di Stefano as provisional insolvency administrator, who believes the company has potential to trade out of administration.
“The company’s order situation is good and the products have a very good reputation on the international market, and the outstanding debts are manageable,” said Di Stefano, nominating intensive negotiation to refinance as his priority.
“This would make it possible to maintain the Flight Design Group with its EASA Design and Production Organizations and the F-Series and CT-Series aircraft and to finalise the existing orders and hand over the aircraft to the customers.”
According to Flight Design management, insolvency became necessary because "an international customer has not yet paid undisputed claims in the mid-six-figure range and another payment in the mid-six-figure range was also delayed."
Flight Design is based at Kindl Airfield in Hörselberg-Hainich and has production plants in Sumperk, Czech Republic, and Kherson, Ukraine. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the occupation of Kherson, prompted the company to rebuild production in Sumperk.
Currently Flight Design has 10 employees working in Germany, 70 in the Czech Republic and 20 in the Ukraine.
AeroJones builds the CTLS in Xiamen, China, and after acquiring the property rights in 2016 during a previous bankruptcy filing, has the Asian and Oceania distrbution rights.
The current aircraft range includes the CTLS 2020 SE LSA, the CT Super recreational aircraft, the F2 CS-23 certified aircraft and the F2e Part 23 electric aircraft.
A previous version of this article stated that AeroJones built the CTLS under licence, which was incorrect.