Albert Mooney had his first job in aviation at the age of 19 in 1925 when he worked briefly for Alexander Aircraft Company in Denver, Colorado.

In early 1953, the company moved to Kerrville, Texas, and when it became clear that the Mite was nearing the end of its production, the development of the new plane was accelerated.

Shortly thereafter, Albert Mooney left the company[8] and went to work for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in Marietta, Georgia.

[10] In 1958 the M20A joined the lineup with a larger 180 hp (130 kW) Lycoming O-360-A1A engine, and by 1959 this was the only model offered, with a total sales that year of 231 units.

In January 1960, the Mooney company convinced Ralph Harmon to leave McDonnell Aircraft and take over management of the engineering efforts.

He had previously worked for Beech Aircraft where he headed the design of the Beechcraft Model 35, one of the first all-metal general aviation monoplanes.

[12] He later worked on the larger Cessna 620 and McDonnell Model C119, but his interests lay with small aircraft, and he accepted Mooney's offer.

[13] Rachal, Hoffman, and Harmon were not experienced at running an aircraft factory, but saw the need to expand the product line and add dealers, and pushed ahead.

Owners John Allen and Lee Higdon, who had left Beech Aircraft to start their own company, took managerial positions at Mooney.

It went into chapter 7 bankruptcy in early 1969; American Electronics Laboratories quickly acquired Mooney in March of that year and invested US$600,000 to keep it operating.

[21] The company continued aggressive product development, working on another pressurized single to compete with the Cessna 210, a turboprop designated the "301".

Roy LoPresti, formerly of Grumman Aerospace where he had worked on aircraft design and the Apollo Lunar Module, was hired as chief of research and development to update the M20.

Less than two months later it was acquired by the team of Armand Rivard of Lake Aircraft and Alexandre Couvelair, a Mooney dealer from Paris.

[29] The competition for the Enhanced Flight Screener program was finally held in 1992, and the Slingsby T67 Firefly was chosen instead of the Mooney EFS.

[31] In July 2001, Mooney entered yet another bankruptcy and under the leadership of J. Nelson Happy as CEO, the company was acquired by Advanced Aerodynamics and Structures Inc. (AASI) in 2002.

The M20TN also featured the Garmin G1000 glass cockpit, four heated, leather captain's chairs with lumbar support, a range in excess of 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km; 1,700 mi), and a top speed of 237 knots (439 km/h).

Mooney CEO Dennis Ferguson said:[37] These decisions will not have an adverse effect on the quality or safety of our products, nor will they delay scheduled aircraft deliveries.

We are strengthening our business in Europe, South America and Australia, where Mooney's high performance, efficiency and pricing are especially appealing.

[37]The reasons for the cutbacks and layoffs cited by the company include the weak US economy and the high price of fuel inhibiting sales.

[37] On 5 November 2008, the company announced it was halting all production and had laid off 229 of its 320 employees, due to an excess unsold inventory of aircraft as a result of the late-2000s recession.

The remaining staff would be employed maintaining the company's physical facilities, its type and production certificates and providing parts and technical support to aircraft owners.

Chen indicated his priorities included resuming production of the Acclaim and the Ovation, while continuing to supply parts for the existing fleet.

Paul Bertorelli, AVweb's Editorial Director, Aviation Publications, questioned whether the outdated and expensive-to-produce Mooney models, that use engines burning avgas, can succeed in the Chinese market.

[44][45][46][47][48][49][50] With the injection of capital from its new Chinese owners, production resumed on 26 February 2014, beginning with the completion of five previously incomplete airframes already on the assembly line.

In April 2014 at Sun n Fun, the company announced a US$50M investment, including the construction of a Mooney museum in Kerrville to be run by a new nonprofit organization.

[61][62] Mooney also secured a partnership with the rotorcraft research company Carter Aviation Technologies, LLC to work towards the Uber Elevate initiative.

[63][64][65] In April 2017 it was announced that Saxena and Mooney had “decided to part ways", with Chief Financial Officer Albert Li assuming the role of interim executive director.

[66][67] It was announced in July 2017 that investors decided to shut down Mooney's research and development facilities at Chino Airport, California, and relocate to their headquarters in Kerrville, Texas.

The existing company management was replaced by a new CEO, Jonny Pollack, and a team consisting of "pilots and Mooney owners".

Future priorities are anticipated to include increasing the aircraft useful loads by providing lighter parts, such as carbon fiber reinforced polymer engine cowlings.