The Czech government has pledged $13.5 million over three years to a consortium of 16 companies to build and market a nine- to 14-seat twin turboprop dubbed the EV-55. Organized by the Czech Aviation Manufacturers’ Association and led by Kunovice-based Evektor, the program would awaken a virtually inactive Czech civil aerospace industry and help regain some of the status it enjoyed during the peak of Let 410 and Zlin glider production.
Of course, over the past decade a lack of capital and promises of big returns on relatively little investment more often than not yielded disappointment for stakeholders in such companies as Let Kunovice and Moravan Aeroplanes. This program, however, would benefit from a funding offset tied to a Czech Air Force lease of 14 Saab Gripen fighters, much of which will go to struggling companies in the impoverished regions of Bohemia and northern Moravia.
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