20-Jan-2022
Michigan based manufacturer Enstrom is to close Friday 21st January after 62 years. The company is filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which means the company is being liquidated and there is no potential for reorganisation.
Enstrom celebrated its 60th birthday on 22nd December 2019, and a detailed report on how mining engineer Rudy Enstrom founded the company can be found here.
Over the years, Enstrom has built 1341 according to helicopter market intelligence specialists Parapex Media exclusively for HeliHub.com
In February 2014, the company announced the TH-180 model, a planned two seat trainer as a rather late response to the huge success of Robinson. The prototype first flew on 5th February of the following year, but an accident in February 2016 slowed down the program and more recently it was evident that the 180 project had been parked without any firm plans for the future. Perhaps it is this program that provides the potential for interested investors?
The announcement letter dated 19th January from Dennis Martin (Director of Sales & Marketing) to Enstrom Dealers and Distributors is given below. Unusually for a company announcement, he has added his personal email address to the signoff.
There appears to be the potential for interested parties to buy Enstrom’s assets and reopen the company in a different form, and we await news on that. Given the current fleet of Enstrom helicopters worldwide, there would certainly be an opportunity for parts support to be welcomed by operators as an absolute minimum.
Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com
