At least three light Czech aircraft will appear at the 15th Western China International Fair, a CzechTrade representative said on July 28, 2014.
"One is the SportStar, a two-seat, light sport aircraft (LSA), manufactured by Evektor-Aerotechnik of the Czech Republic," said Ladislav Graner of the CzechTrade Chengdu Representative Office. "The aircraft is being shipped to Chengdu in a few days. If any buyers show their interest, they can just purchase it at the fair."
SportStar is the only kind of Czech airplane approved for flight by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
Although the CzechTrade Chengdu office was set up in 2007, it only began organizing enterprises' appearances at the Western China International Fair last year. At last year's fair, the Czech aircraft exhibition was the largest exhibit in the EU display area, where 15 Czech aviation enterprises had exhibition booths. Crowds excitedly gathered around one airplane, the TL-Ultralight's Sting S4, and it was then that Ladislav Graner felt he had made the right decision to make the exhibition happen.
"At first, no enterprise wanted to come," Graner said, "and we don't know much about Sichuan province and the Western China International Fair." But after he did his research and found out that China is gradually opening low-altitude airspace to the general aviation industry, Graner lobbied several Czech companies and finally got TL-Ultralight to agree to fly a Sting S4 to Chengdu. After that, 20 Czech aircrafts were sold at the fair.
The CzechTrade Chengdu office's Rich Li said he could not remember how many times his organization has organized mutual exchanges and visits between Sichuan enterprises and Czech enterprises. But one project certainly impressed him: In June 2014, the Chengdu High-tech Development Zone signed an agreement to cooperate with Czech companies in general aviation.
"We will not only provide help for aircraft manufacture, but also provide a complete set of solutions to improve Sichuan's general aviation industry, including building airplane tarmacs and small airports, constructing air control systems, training pilots, manufacturing and maintaining aircrafts and parts, and equipping security systems," Ladislav Graner added.
Fifteen to twenty Czech aviation companies are going to participate in this year's Western China International Fair, and at least 3 aircraft will be displayed. "They all proposed to ship airplanes to Chengdu. However, the exhibition area is limited, so there is only space for 3 planes," Graner said.
Besides Czech enterprises, aviation enterprises from the United States, Germany, France, Italy and more countries will also participate in the fair. The fair will specially set up an aviation pavilion for the first time to accommodate all those companies in addition to Sichuan's local aviation enterprises, which indicates the high demand for the development of the general aviation industry in Western China.
Another world famous Czech product, crystal glass, will also appear at the fair, with ten to fifteen enterprises coming, Graner said. He said his organization will also explore more areas such as mechanical engineering, new energy, biomedicine, new resources, environmental protection and more to see if there is potential for expanding cooperation between enterprises in Sichuan province and the Czech Republic.
