Aviodrome in dire straits?

The Aviodrome aircraft and buildings are now being cleaned by a specialised company prior to re-opening on Saturday the 28th of April.

Some pictures of ground works now being undertaken on the Aviodrome grounds:
http://ow.ly/i/zgyq new footpaths
and
http://ow.ly/i/zgAC shows that the “spotters’ hill” has also got some attention.
It will get crowded on that tower when a large event is on… :diablo:

An announcement on the Aviodrome’s future could be made today or tomorrow Thursday 15 March 2012 .

According to http://www.krantvanflevoland.nl/nieuws/6466/reddingsplan-aviodrome-zo-goed-als-rond things aren’t looking all that bad ! 🙂

But the Libéma Groep will have to do a LOT of work to make the Aviodrome financially viable again…

An announcement on the Aviodrome’s future could be made today or tomorrow Thursday 15 March 2012 .

According to http://www.krantvanflevoland.nl/nieuws/6466/reddingsplan-aviodrome-zo-goed-als-rond things aren’t looking all that bad ! 🙂

But the Libéma Groep will have to do a LOT of work to make the Aviodrome financially viable again…

According to http://www.omroepflevoland.nl/Nieuws/88734/libema-favoriet-bij-doorstart-aviodrome
the “Libéma Groep” heralding from Rosmalen is now indeed the preferred bidder for the Aviodrome.

This week will be used for further discussions and legal arrangements.
Perhaps next week will see an official announcement of “Aviodrome 2”, owned by Libéma…

The AN-2 is normally based at Teuge (EHTE) but currently in a hangar at Niederrhein/Weeze for the winter.

Nice piccies. 🙂

The Constellation is now indoors, having swapped places with the C-54.

C-47 Fifi Kate was sold to Colombia, where it later suffered an accident, probably repairable.

At http://www.quotenet.nl/quote-500/dirk-lips-overname-aviodrome-hangt-nog-in-de-lucht.php a very short interview (by telephone by the looks of it…) with the owner of Libema.

Great shame if this collection is lost, I visited there about 3 years ago and found the place well laid out.

http://www.krantvanflevoland.nl/nieuws/5508/8-5-miljoen-schijntje-voor-overname-aviodrome ,
published today Wednesday, lists some required amounts of money and “chances for success”.

To purchase the Aviodrome 6.5 million euros is required. Plus 2 million for “renewal investments”, i.e. to make this theme park/museum more attractive to Joe Public, etc.
And even then there is according to “those in the know” only a success rate of about 70/seventy percent to save the theme park/museum…
And that’s the most optimistic scenario…

Good Luck!!!

Good Luck! Good Luck! and more Good Luck!

http://www.nederlandseluchtvaart.nl/forums/f50-aviodrome/02-nov-2011-aviodrome-verkeert-zeer-zwaar-financieel-weer-18788/index16.html#post28174
and
http://www.omroepflevoland.nl/Nieuws/88539/nog-twee-partijen-in-race-aviodrome

Short translation: as of Monday the 20th of February only two contenders left for the Aviodrome.
One: Libema, Two: “Hollands Collectief”.
It may be that both will turn out to cooperate with each other when taking over the Aviodrome, if succesful.

As the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol group owns the terrain on which the Aviodrome museum complex was built, they will want to have a say in the appraisal of the plans of both contenders.

Next week the “financial legal liquidator” (Dutch: “curator”) wants to make the final decision on the future of the Aviodrome, based on both contenders’ business plans.

Yes, the press is rather optimistic.

This week, or next week, may be decisive…
And it doesn’t look too bad! 🙂

But of course there is no “done deal” yet… 😉

http://www.krantvanflevoland.nl/nieuws/5017/collectief-hoopvol-over-doorstart-aviodrome/

http://www.destentor.nl/regio/flevoland/10439950/’Overname-Aviodrome-mogelijk-volgende-week-rond’.ece

Use http://translate.google.com for a translation! 😉

Lots of interesting news features this week.

It may be that the commercial company Libema group, which has allied itself to several non-commercial groups, societies, foundations, (lottery)funds, municipalities/councils, etc,
will actually be able to take over the Aviodrome.

This is NOT a “done deal” yet! But it looks promising… 🙂

http://www.destentor.nl/regio/flevoland/10417902/’Veiling-collectie-Aviodrome-niet-voor-eind-maart’.ece
and certainly
http://www.destentor.nl/regio/flevoland/10418982/Lib%C3%A9ma-wederom-dichtbij-overname-Aviodrome.ece

In the meantime the 300+ unpaid volunteers of the Aviodrome have very publicly offered their services… 😉
http://www.telegraaf.nl/reiskrant/11478136/__Vechten_voor_Aviodrome__.html?sn=reiskrant

Sorry, no time for a translation at present. Anyone ? 😉

Otherwise, use http://translate.google.com for now 😉

According to the Dutch-language
http://www.omroepflevoland.nl/nieuws/nieuwsbericht?NewsID=88107
the “financial liquidator” (Dutch: “curator”) was still in talks with three different parties as of Monday the 6th of February, amongst them the Libema group which is teamed up with http://www.geefaviodromeweervleugels.nl and the “Spanish party”.

All bidders must have submitted a business plan by the end of this week.

The regional broadcaster Omroep Flevoland reported yesterday on the radio broadcast (link) that a collective has been set up with the primary aim to save the collection of planes, objects and documents.

This group consists of amongst others the VSB Fund, Mondriaan Foundation, Vriendenkring Aviodrome (the Aviodrome’s volunteer organisation), the Royal Netherlands Society for Aviation, the borough of Lelystad and various wealthy individuals.

The secondary aim of this group is to enable a restart of the Aviodrome taken over by the Libéma group (the group whose deal fell through two weeks ago due to financing). They would then manage the museum, but the currently Aviodrome owned collection would fall under ownership of the collective mentioned earlier.

The third aim of the group is to start a public rally to raise money nationwide through various donations. Similar to how the Aviodrome managed to get the money for the DC-2, L749, B747 etc.

The collective and Libéma has around six weeks time to get it all sorted. The auction could be organised as of mid February.

I visited once. Superb museum. Bit expensive though.

Hi,

From what I understand the number of people visiting the museum wasn’t to bad, but companies keeping meetings/celebrations reduced considerably the recent years. I doubt that there present location is a major problem. Like other people already wrote, at Lelystad they are able to fly with there aircraft. Many people mention that you have to pay for the parking of your car, but that was the same at Schiphol.
Lets hope everything get back to normal!

Regards,

Mathieu.

I think it is not so much the distance that is the problem. It’s the fact it’s in the middle of nowhere.

When the museum was at Schiphol I visited it regularly. When I went spotting at AMS and the weather turned unfavourable, the museum was always there to provide shelter at a modest price. Add to that the “tourists” that want to take their (grand)children to the airport and combine it with the museum.

Although it’s true that the museum used to be at Schiphol Airport, I would be very surprised to learn that the number of visitors has declined since it moved to Lelystad. I have visited the museum since it opened in 1960 at Schiphol East and also was a frequent visitor at Schiphol Centre, since I have been an air traffic controller there for more than 35 years. In my recollection the Aviodome was always very quiet.

An important aspect of the present location was that the Aviodrome moved much more into the direction of a “living” museum, with regular “theme” days, visiting aircraft and the regular operation of the DDA fleet, DC-2, Catalina, local historic aircraft etcera. This would never have been possible at Schiphol Airport.

There’s one thing that has surprised me over the years: the obvious lack by the museum to raise public interest! Not even the local newspapers mentioned upcoming events. Most of the time I had to learn via Flypast Magazine that such events were in the pipeline! My daughter and grandchildren live in Lelystad, but they had to rely on me to be informed about events in the Aviodrome. My youngest granddaughter even is a member of the Airscouts who have their homebase at the Aviodrome!!

Well…. I’m not going to argue the point in favour of Flevoland, I cannot think of anything else either.

It is good to hear that some plans are being set in motion. Up until today it was all quiet and that was not what I wanted to hear. Let’s hope for a positive outcome now!

I think it is not so much the distance that is the problem. It’s the fact it’s in the middle of nowhere.

When the museum was at Schiphol I visited it regularly. When I went spotting at AMS and the weather turned unfavourable, the museum was always there to provide shelter at a modest price. Add to that the “tourists” that want to take their (grand)children to the airport and combine it with the museum.

That does not happen anymore. If you go to the museum, you will have gone specifically for the museum. There is nothing else. In fact, other then the Batavia wharf, the Batavia outlet village and Walibi Flevo the whole province has nothing of interest.* There are no “unplanned visits” anymore. Add to that the fact that the museum is now on a relatively quiet road in the outback, whereas the old location was literally at the crossroads of a busy railine, several busy motorways and one of the premier European airports. Big surprise it’s harder to get people to come!

* I expect to get a bashing on that from locals. Probably there are a few other interesting things. The fact I can’t name them is a reflection of their bad PR department. You want a laugh, check the tourism Flevoland site. Click for five minutes, then tell me what you can see/visit in the area? You’ll learn nothing but marketing bull**** about the brand strategy and value of Flevoland.