A globally growing aviation market presents opportunities for reliable and innovative suppliers and Czech companies are part of it. The Farnborough International Airshow, (16 – 22 July 2018) near to London, gave an opportunity for eight Czech companies to exhibit their expertise - Aero Vodochody, Aveo Engineering Group, Czech Airlines Technics, JIHLAVAN, MESIT Aerotrade, PBS Velka Bites, Ray Service, SpoluWorks Perfecta were present. And three associations represented the aerospace industry manufacturers that were not at the event – The Association of the Czech AeroSpace Industry, The Confederation  of the Czech Aviation Industry, and the Moravian Aerospace Cluster.

Aero Vodochody introduced the totally all new generation of the world's most widely used military trainer jet, the L-39NG, and at the same time announced new orders for this model, with its maiden flight planned for later this year. To cap off a successful show for Aero Vodochody, representatives of SKYTECH (Defense Sky Technologies Lda) and, RSW Aviation signed purchase agreements of in total 22 L-39NG aircraft with the CEO OF Aero Vodochody at the press conference held during the Farnborough International Airshow. Aero also displayed its planned new generation of the existing L-159 (ALCA), a fighter attack aircraft named the F/A-259 Striker, which will contain new avionics supplied by Israeli Aerospace Industries. This aircrafts fuel tanks are integrated into the wing and it has the possibility of carrying more equipment.

The Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Mr. Petr Očko, representatives from the Czech Embassy in London and, the directors of the London offices of the CzechTrade and CzechInvest agencies supported the Czech producers in negotiations with business partners. The delegation discussed the possibilities of engaging Czech companies in the supply chains of producers such as Airbus, BAE, Embraer, GE, Leonardo, MBDA, Rolls-Royce and Thales. Deputy Minister Očko emphasized during their talks that Czech companies have already demonstrated their ability to supply whole aircraft, as well as entire subsystems of their own design and production for the aerospace industry for example, complete PBS TJ80 engines by PBS Velká Bíteš, complete MESIT flight recorders, as well as electronic systems by Ray Service.

To highlight a further Czech footprint at FIA 2018, the new military transport aircraft the Embraer KC-390 has a significant Czech content (the wing’s fixed leading edge, all cabin doors, cargo ramp and rear fuselage of the aircraft are all produced by Aero Vodochody), and the new Diamond Dart 550 trainer is powered by the turboprop engine H75-100 produced by General Electric (GE) in the Czech Republic. GE is also currently developing a brand new Catalyst Advanced Turboprop Engine in its facilities in the Czech Republic, this engine will offer 20% better efficiency and power the new Cessna Denali by 2020.

Aleš Opatrný, Economic & Commercial Diplomat, Czech Embassy in London