“Supporting the export of the new aircraft is a continuation of almost thirty years of cooperation, during which the Czech aviation industry with EGAP insurance delivered its machines, spare parts and services to a number of countries on several continents,” said Jan Procházka, head of the company’s board of directors. He added that the L-39NG is one of the technological leaders in the field with very high added value.
According to Procházka, contract insurance for Vietnam is one of the largest current business cases of EGAP. At the same time, it is one of the largest exports that the Czech defense industry has succeeded in recent years, in a sophisticated field where Aero and Omnipol face competition from global players. These are, for example, the Italian concern Leonardo or the South Korean and Russian armories.
Many domestic companies are involved in the production of L-39NG. “It is a success of the entire Czech aviation industry,” added the Chairman of the Board of Directors of EGAP.
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For the first customer from abroad, Aero already has five machines in the advanced assembly phase. “The start of serial production of the new aircraft is going according to plan,” said company spokesman Tobiáš Tvrdík
The contract with the Vietnamese Ministry of Defense, which also includes pilot and instructor training, logistical support and other services, builds on earlier deliveries of Czech, or more precisely, Czechoslovak aircraft to this Asian country. Omnipol, which in the past focused on the trade in military equipment, exported more than 9,000 aircraft. In addition to the Zlín Z-226T training machines or the Aero Ae-45 twin-engine air taxi, these were mainly the most successful L-39 Albatros jet training aircraft in the world.
2900 albatrosses took off from Vodochod. They were awarded for their robustness, quality, ability to operate in all climatic conditions or for ease of maintenance. And also because they could be deployed in fierce combat operations.
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In the early 1980s, Aero supplied Vietnam with 24 L-39 cadet training aircraft. Another ten albatrosses were bought by the Vietnamese army from Ukraine in the early 1990s.
Omnipol and Aer took part in the development of the new L-39NG. He has been a co-owner of the Vodochody company since September. The majority is held by HSC Aerojet, which is controlled by Hungarian financier Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky.
Aero last year had a loss of 1.026 billion crowns, reducing it by 108 million year on year. The results were affected by the pandemic and investments in the L-39NG aircraft. Compared to 2019, the company’s net turnover fell from 2.89 billion to 2.48 billion crowns.
EGAP has long been interested in the aviation industry
- The Export and Guarantee Insurance Company has been providing insurance for foreign supplies to the Czech aviation industry, which focuses on Vodochody in Central Bohemia and near Kunovice and Otrokovice in South Moravia, since its establishment in the early 1990s.
- EGAP insured Aero Vodochody and Letu Kunovice the first major business case in 1994. It was the export of twelve L-59 and three L-410 aircraft to the Tunisian Ministry of Defense. Other L-410s went mainly to India, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as to Germany and Denmark.
- In 2007, production insurance and production credit for Aero began, covering the supply of S-76 helicopters for the American company Sikorsky. They were manufactured in Aero between 2000 and 2018, and 169 of these helicopters were insured.
- In 2009, Aero found itself in a stable financial situation, with the financing of the helicopter program later taken over by commercial banks. This enabled EGAP to enter into another long-term project of the Vodochody factory – the production of parts for the new KC-390 military cargo plane for the Brazilian Embraer.
- The total volume of exports supported by EGAP exceeds one trillion crowns. In its 29 years of operation, the state-owned company has supported the export of Czech exporters to 130 countries around the world, from Australia to Zambia. One of the largest business cases in history is the modernization of the railway line in Azerbaijan.
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