Sino Swearingen no longer has a cashflow problem for its SJ30-2 programme, thanks to the continued backing of the Taiwanese consortium of investors who are financing the venture.

The news came in mid-April, not long after Sino had decided to lay off 100 contract workers because of limited funding.

Director of corporate communi-cations Mike Potts told EBAN: “We were initially told to downsize the company by a hundred people because we needed the size of business to match the level of funding that we had.

“But Senator Rockerfeller went to Taiwan and met with senior officials over there, and we were notified that funding would in fact be forthcoming.

“So we are going to be able to restaff the company and get back up to speed again.”

Sino says it will take between a month and six weeks to to reallocate the lost jobs. Potts said: “It will take us that long to gather up people, perform the paperwork, get them back to work and get the company moving again.”

As regards the revised schedule for Sino’s SJ30-2 programme, Mike Potts said: “Certification

should happen inthe first quarter of 2002 and first deliveries in the first quarter of 2003.”