As the Czech OMNIPOL group announced on April 27, 2022, the largest manufacturer of civil transport aircraft in the Czech Republic, the Aircraft Industries plant (formerly LET Kunovice) returns to Czech ownership after 14 years. On April 21, 2022, the Russian owner and the OMNIPOL Group agreed to sell 100% of Aircraft Industries shares to the Czech company OMPO Holding (a subsidiary of OMNIPOL).
L-410UVP-E20 aircraft in the final assembly shop of the Czech aircraft factory Aircraft Industries (formerly Let Kunovice), 2018 (c) Tomas Skoda
OMNIPOL's press release reads:
Intensive cooperation between the OMNIPOL Group and Aircraft Industries was resumed in November 2021 with the signing of an Agreement on strategic cooperation in Foreign Markets. This agreement was signed with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic at the international exhibition in Dubai.
Aircraft Industries has proudly produced more than eight thousand aircraft and exported them to sixty countries around the world. The purpose of the agreement is cooperation and coordination of business activity and access to the markets of third countries. The main products are L-410 and L-410NG series transport aircraft.
"Aircraft Industries has been a recognized aircraft manufacturer since 1936, so in the current crisis situation, it was a matter of course for us to do everything possible to save the last Czech aircraft manufacturer. There are not many traditional Czech manufacturing companies on the market, so we are obliged to support and develop their production. After the successful rescue of one aviation legend, Aero Vodochody, we want to help save another great representative of the Czech aviation industry," said OMNIPOL President Jiri Podpera.
Due to the strong position of Aircraft Industries and its importance not only in the region, but also in the Czech aviation industry, the acquisition is aimed at stabilizing the company and maintaining production capacity.
"We very much welcome the newly concluded agreement, as in the current situation it will undoubtedly help to provide our company, and especially our employees, with reliable and safe conditions for continuing their great work. We have been cooperating with some of the OMNIPOL Group's production companies for a long time, and direct participation in the group will further deepen our joint activities. Our trust is confirmed by the fact that well-managed and prosperous companies are already part of the OMNIPOL Group," said Ilona Plshkova, CEO of Aircraft Industries.
Aircraft Industries found itself in a very difficult situation after the imposition of sanctions against the Russian Federation, which formed the main market of the company. In cooperation with OMNIPOL, after the signing of the cooperation agreement, business cooperation on the substitution of supplies outside the Russian Federation began to develop successfully. Both companies plan to conclude new contracts for the supply of aircraft to customers in third markets in the coming months of this year. OMNIPOL / OMPO Holding is a Prague-based investment and trading group that is part of the traditional Czech aerospace companies. At the moment, the latest investment was the purchase of a stake in AERO Vodochody Aerospace, which produces L-39NG aircraft.
On the part of bmpd, we recall that the Czech aircraft manufacturing plant Let, rebranded in Aircraft Industries in 2005, in Kunovitsy, which has been producing turboprop aircraft of the L-410 series since the early 1970s, has been in a state of decline since 1992. From 1992 to 2002, the company built only 29 aircraft of the L-410 series, in 2003-2005 - none, and in 2006-2007 - a total of six. The revival of the plant occurred only with the acquisition in 2008 of a controlling stake (51%) of Aircraft Industries by the Russian JSC Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC) of the oligarch Iskander Makhmudov. In the fall of 2013, UMMC consolidated 100% of the shares of the Czech plant.
UMMC was able to organize the promotion of L-410UVP-E20 aircraft to the Russian market, including to the Russian Ministry of Defense, which led to an increase in the production of these machines in Kunovitsy from four in 2008 to 15-16 per year at the peak in 2013-2014. Since 2013, the production of the L-410UVP-E20 aircraft with new General Electric (GE Aviation Czech) H80 engines has been launched, and since 2019 - the upgraded L-410NG aircraft with H85-200 engines and a new wing. According to the agreement of 2015, the assembly of L-410 series aircraft in Russia was started at JSC Ural Civil Aviation Plant (UZGA) in Yekaterinburg. In total, from 2008 to 2021, the Aircraft Industries plant built, according to known data, 131 L-410 aircraft, including those assembled at UZGA.
The Czech plant has been under pressure from European sanctions on the Ukrainian issue regarding supplies to Russia since 2015, however, the introduction of superhuman Western sanctions against the Russian aviation industry and foreign trade in March-April 2022 finally put an end to the main Russian direction of the enterprise's activities, so that the Russian owner's disposal of this business became inevitable.
As a result, the Aircraft Industries plant has now been bought out by the Czech defense industry group OMNIPOL, controlled by businessman Richard Havoy. Recall that in June 2020, OMNIPOL bought from the Czech Penta group 49% of the shares of another well-known Czech aviation company - Aero Vodochody Aerospace, manufacturer of famous training aircraft of the L-39 family (the remaining 51% of Aero Vodochody were acquired by Hungarian businessman Andrasz Tombor). It should be noted that OMNIPOL has a long history of partnership with Aero Vodochody, acting almost the entire post-socialist period as the main intermediary-trader for the sale of aircraft manufactured by the plant and spare parts and services for them. Since 2015, OMNIPOL has participated in direct investment in Aero Vodochody, in particular, by 50% financing the program for the creation of an upgraded combat training aircraft L-39NG, investing more than 1 billion kronor in it.
Web resource ATO.RU in turn, he published material on this topic "The manufacturer of regional aircraft L-410 no longer belongs to Russia," which states that the Czech company Aircraft Industries - the manufacturer of regional turboprop aircraft L-410 - has changed ownership: the Czech OMPO Holding bought the manufacturer from the Russian UMMC. Now the aircraft builder will not be able to provide any support for this type of aircraft and supply spare parts to Russian operators due to international sanctions. In the Russian Federation, they hope that they will be able to independently produce an aircraft under license.
OMPO Holding is a company owned by Omnipol defense holding, which also owns a stake in another Czech aircraft manufacturer, Aero Vodochody.
Aircraft Industries found itself in a difficult situation due to the sanctions imposed by the European Union in response to Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, since the owner of the manufacturer at that time was the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC).
Omnipol reported that the agreement on the sale was reached on April 21, it was publicly announced on April 27, but the amount of the transaction was not disclosed.
Due to the sanctions, the Czech manufacturer will not be able to provide any support for L-410 aircraft and supply spare parts to Russian operators. There were also reports in the Czech media that engine builder GE Aviation Turboprop suspended deliveries of Aircraft Industries engines.
Russia is a key market for twin-engine turboprop aircraft operated on local airlines, as well as in the Russian Aerospace Forces.
In November 2015, Aircraft Industries and the Ural Civil Aviation Plant (UZGA) signed an agreement (valid until 2035), under the terms of which a private Yekaterinburg enterprise receives a license to organize the assembly production of L-410UVP-E20. Recently, the Russian company has been working to increase the localization of L-410 production and replace foreign components with local analogues. One of the main tasks is to replace the H80-200 engines of GE Aviation Czech (the former Czech engine-building company Walter, acquired in 2008 by the American company GE Aviation) with Russian VK-800S engines. The company hopes to continue the production of these aircraft.
Several L-410s are in the service of the European Air forces. Now the manufacturer will have to rebuild the logistics of components and find new markets.
Aircraft Industries and Omnipol signed an agreement on strategic cooperation in international markets last year as part of the Dubai Airshow.
"Aircraft Industries has been building aircraft since 1936, so in the current situation it is natural for us to save the Czech aircraft manufacturer," commented Omnipol President Yizhi Podpera, adding that it is now Omnipol's responsibility to "support and develop the activities" of Aircraft Industries. For the latter, this is an opportunity to continue working and retain staff. After the sanctions were imposed, the company's management published an open letter, pointing out the uncertainty of its position. The company employs Czechs, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians, the message said.
Changing owners since the 1970s, the company built a total of more than 1 thousand L-410 aircraft, most of which were sold to Russia. In 2019, the first flight was made by the L-410NG with General Electric H85-200 engines and Garmin G3000 avionics. A version of the aircraft on floats is also being developed.