Cameron Balloons Ltd pledges to support Lindstrand staff
Contrary to earlier reports Don Cameron, founder of Cameron Balloons Ltd., apparently wishes to assure the staff of Lindstrand Balloons Ltd that all employee benefits will be paid in full. It also transpires, according to Don Cameron, that the announcement by Lindstrand Balloons US is wildly inaccurate. Don went on to state that Cameron Balloons Ltd (CBL) has never been a shareholder in Lindstrand Hot Air Balloons Limited (LHABL) despite both CBL and LHABL being ‘owned’ by the same holding company. He goes on to add that ‘some posts at CBL in Bristol will be available’. That is clearly reassuring but Cameron has made a number of redundancies in the recent past as has Lindstrands and, despite a well advertised vacancy, the appointment of a new Sales Manager for CBL actually came from within the company. Let us hope that there is a future for some employees of Lindstrands with Cameron Balloons and that the product will not pass into history.
On top of that it now seems, again according to Don Cameron, that all intellectual property was already outside LHABL, so Phil Thompson, President of Lindstrand Balloons USA, will not be completely free to use the designs, although Cameron Balloons will give him support so that his business is not affected. Not sure we quite follow that statement. Best, we think then, is that Don and Phil have a chat. Officially we learn that Cameron Balloons are committed to providing Continued Airworthiness support to all existing LHABL customers. They are already in discussions with the CAA/EASA with a view to becoming the Type Certificate holder for the LHABL EASA Type Certificates which is really quite brilliant. So bottom line is now that Camerons will eventually take on the responsibility of the Continued Airworthiness of Lindstrand balloons, and presumably products, for the foreseeable and that, for the present, nothing has changed meaning Lindstrand balloons remain fully Certified and Airworthy. So, to quote something from The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy,… Don’t panic, love your Lindstrand.