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Sino Swearingen seeks local money

"Maybe its situation is not that bad, but we have asked SSAC to hold a shareholders' meeting in Taipei to win support."

Steve Chen, vice minister of economic affairs

A Taiwan-US joint venture aircraft company formed to make business jets has run into financial trouble and is seeking funding from Taiwan, a newspaper report said yesterday.

The Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corp (SSAC, 華揚史威靈) is seeking US$30 million in funding from local shareholders who hold a 90 percent stake in the company, the Chinese-language China Times said.

But the Taiwanese government, a promoter of the joint venture and one of its shareholders, is reluctant to approve the fund-injection because the company was formed 11 years ago but has not yet begun mass production.

"Maybe its situation is not that bad, but we have asked SSAC to hold a shareholders' meeting in Taipei to win support. Our aim is for mass production begin as soon as possible," the paper quoted Vice Minister of Economics Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) as saying.

Based in San Antonio, Texas, SSAC is a joint venture between the Swearingen Aircraft Corporation and Taiwan's Sino Aerospace Investment Corp, which holds a nearly 90 percent stake.

Manufacturing takes place in West Virginia.

With the backing of Taiwan's government and US Senator Jay Rockefeller, SSAC was founded in 1995 to produce business jets.

Taiwan hoped that transfer of technology from the US could help the nation's aerospace industry take off, but the Taiwanese media suspected the deal was also politically-motivated because the government wanted to build closer ties with the US.

In October last year, SSAC's twin-engine SJ30-2 was certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration, clearing the way for mass production of the US$5.5 million, seven-seat jet.

SSAC has received orders for 299 SJ30-2 executive jets and is in the process of assembling nine.
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