Blackberry to sell business jet fleet as buyout looms
The Bombardier Global Express can fly intercontinental journeys without the need for stops.
The maker of Blackberry smartphones and tablets is selling is entire fleet of business jets, after making a quarterly loss of $1 billion.
The Bombardier Global Express can fly intercontinental journeys without the need for stops.
Blackberry Ltd. (formerly Research In Motion Ltd.) has said it plans to sell a Bombardier Global Express aircraft acquired as recently as July 2013, along with two medium-range Dalcon Falcon business jets purchased “several years ago.”
After selling one of three corporate aircraft last year, the Wall Street Journal revealed that the struggling technology company had bought a pre-owned Bombardier Global Express, worth around $25 million, in July.
“Earlier this year the company decided to sell both [Dassault Falcon business jets] and replace them with one longer-range aircraft,” said Blackberry spokesman Adam Emery.
Emery said the company eventually settled on a Global Express, which has a much longer range at just under 6,000 nautical miles, but that it had since decided to sell the aircraft along with both Dassault jets, which are allegedly all listed for sale with a Canadian aircraft brokerage.
Check out these three! #aviation #bizav #avgeek pic.twitter.com/m1w3BkVWhX
— Hopkinson Associates (@HopkinsonAssoc) September 27, 2013
“In light of the company’s current business condition the company has decided to sell [the Global Express] along with the two legacy aircraft and will no longer own any planes,” said Emery.
A Falcon business jet belonging to Blackberry was reportedly sighted at the 2013 Paris Air Show in June, but Emery said he did not believe either of the Dassault aircraft had flown since the company accepted delivery of the Global Express in July.
Last month, Blackberry signed a preliminary deal to sell the company to Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. for for $4.7 billion. The Wall Street Journal also reported yesterday that Cerberus Capital Management LP, which specialises in distressed-investing, had taken a keen interest in Blackberry.
