Bankrupt aerospace firm owes thousands of dollars to employees

Eight former employees of a bankrupt Summerside aerospace company are owed $29,193.63.

They're among the creditors lining up after two companies, Aethon Aerospace Inc. and Testori Americas Corporation, were declaredbankrupt last month.

The eight employees worked for Aethon, formerly known as Wiebel Aerospace (1995) Inc., at its manufacturing facility on Greenwood Drive in Summerside.

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The employees are owed vacation pay and pay-in-lieu according to documents filed in court.

Amounts range from about $2,683.16to $5,649.00per person.

Millions of dollars in claims

The firms' biggest creditor isPEIWestsideFunding LLC of Wilmington, Delaware. It claims it's owed more than $15.1 million: $11.8 million from Testori and $3.3 million from Aethon.

Total money owed to creditors could add up to more than $20 million, according to Robert MacGregor, alawyer acting for PEI Westside Funding.

"That number is likely to be adjusted as we sort through the claims," said MacGregor, who attended a meeting of creditors Oct. 21 in Charlottetown.

Creditors had been lining up to file claimsagainst the two companies in months leading up to the bankruptcy.

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Secured creditors, including the City of Summerside and PEI Westside Funding, are first in line for any money from the liquidation of assets owned by the defunct aerospace firms.

Unsecured creditors -- including the eight employees -- come next, according to MacGregor.

The city of Summersideclaims it'sowed $51,499.71for unpaid electricity bills at the AethonAerospace plant.

The city says it has written off $14,000 for fire protection services owed by Testori Americas Corp.

"There was little chance we'd get it back," said the city's chief financial officer Rob Philpott.

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency has filed two claims totaling more than a million dollars against the two companies: $248,791.68 involving Testori Americas Corp. and $788,024.47 for AethonAerospace Inc.

ACOAis an unsecured creditor.

Assets worth $1 to$2 million

The two bankrupt aerospace companies once employed about two hundred people.

The firms made interior fittings forairplanes, busses and trains.

The City of Summerside estimates the companies' remaining land, buildings and equipment are worth somewhere between one and two million dollars.

They remain unsold after a mortgage sale inMay failed to generate sufficient bids.

"We're waiting, said Philpott, the city's chief financial officer.

Efforts to contact the former employees of AethonAerospace were notimmediately successful.

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