Light Airplane Maker Flight Design Under New Ownership

Flight Design, the European manufacturer of light sport airplanes, has completed the sale of all major company assets to the German investment group Lift Holding, allowing for the resumption of work on the C4, a Part 23-certified four-seater with a projected selling price of $250,000.

The newly realigned company, which entered receivership last year, will be based at a new facility near Eisenach in the Thuringia region of Germany. The company will now be called Flight Design General Aviation GmbH.

"We're excited about this," Flight Design USA president Tom Peghiny told Flying. "It is the same company as before with new upper management. The first order of business will be increasing the engineering staff."

Work on the C4 had come to a standstill after the company ran into financial difficulty. Production had also slowed to a trickle as the company workforce was trimmed to 10 people in Germany and around 60 in the Ukraine.

With its expertise in design, production and certification of light aircraft, Peghiny said Lift wants to see Flight Design continue as one of the world’s light aircraft market leaders, using modern marketing and communication concepts to optimize customer experience.

“We have been working with the Lift Air folks for a year planning the comeback for the Flight Design brand and we are very excited about the developments for the future,” he said.

Lift Holding will combine the technical expertise of Flight Design with its other recently acquired aviation asset, gyrocopter producer Rotorvox. Both companies will be headquartered at the Kindel Airport near Eisenach.