After having recently recalled more than 200 employees who were furloughed by the company in November, Mooney International has once again laid off the majority of its workforce and walked back promises of holiday pay, according to a Mooney employee in a story by the Kerrville Daily Times.
Negotiations had been ongoing between a new unnamed financier and the maker of best-in-class-performance single-engine piston airplanes, though it’s unclear whether today’s news signals a breakdown in those negotiations or not. Mooney has so far not commented.
With the employee recall the previous month, the company’s factory in Kerrville, Texas, was once again operational, and aircraft production had resumed, though only for a few days before workers were sent home earlier this week.
Although the 90-year-old manufacturer has remained mum about the impetus for the layoffs, the move was almost certainly the result of depressed sales and an unfavorable forecast for the company. Despite a recently updated design and a positive industry outlook, the company’s piston singles have generated little buyer interest in recent years.
