DORNIER is not dead. US entrepreneur Ben Bartel has acquired the rights and facilities to produce the 32-seat 328JET and 328 turboprop. Bartel's company, AvCraft Aviation, an Viginia-based aircraft maintenance operation, has purchased the moribund manufacturing and support facilities near Munich from bankrupt Fairchild Dornier. AvCraft will use its own facilities in Ohio as a US support base for the aircraft. Both entities will henceforth operate under the Fairchild Dornier name, and retain headquarters in Oberpfaffenhofen. The company acquired 18 finished aircraft as part of the transaction, plus five additional aircraft in various stages of final assembly, and has inked a deal with Aero-Dienst to take three Envoy 3s later in 2003. The price was not disclosed. Bartel expects the new Fairchild Dornier company to resume full-scale production over the course of the next 12 months. With regard to the Dornier 728 the liquidator has no news and the programme looks like it has come to an end. The 728 rolled out but never flew! http://www.fairchilddornier.com