Makes me wonder, if "cars cost less in Wetaskiwin" will airplanes? It certainly doesn't roll off the tongue the same. Doesn't sound like the best laid business plan just yet though....
http://edmontonjournal.com/business/loc ... se-partner
Wetaskiwin company sets up aircraft manufacturing operation with Chinese partner
GORDON KENT
More from Gordon Kent
Published on: February 21, 2017 | Last Updated: February 21, 2017 5:00 PM MST
John Jeffries (left), president of Flying Tiger Aviation Ltd., shakes hands with Feng Ge, general manager of China's Shengda Xiang Yun Aviation Co. Ltd. in Wetaskiwin on Feb. 20, 2017, after the two companies agreed to set up a partnership primarily to build airplanes.
A Wetaskiwin firm is setting up a joint venture with a Chinese partner in a project to build airplanes for sale around the world.
Flying Tiger Aviation Ltd. and Shengda Xiang Yun Aviation Ltd. of Yongcheng, China, have agreed to work together and expect to sign a formal contract within a few days, Flying Tiger president John Jeffries said Tuesday.
Their major business will be to manufacture a newly designed airplane at a facility in Yongcheng, a city 650 kilometres northwest of Shanghai, then assemble it on the continent closest to the customer, Jeffries said.
He won’t determine for about a month what type of aircraft they’ll make, but said he knows at least one field he wouldn’t identify that isn’t well-serviced now.
Jeffries, who has run J and H Aviation Ltd. for 23 years doing maintenance on private, corporate and commercial aircraft, said Shengda will supply the financing and Flying Tiger will provide the aviation experience.
He plans to start with a design team of two or three people, and estimates it could take 18 months until a plane is completed and certified for flight.
He wouldn’t say how many planes they expect to sell or where the main market will be.
“We’re focused on aircraft manufacture at this time, and both parties fully expect for that process to go ahead. I fully expect to see a a good number of aircraft get sold around the world.”
Jeffries, who has worked in aviation for 45 years, said the new company could create in Wetaskiwin between a half-dozen flight training jobs and 200 positions if it branches locally into other fields of interest such as maintenance, charters and sales.
Although he hasn’t been in charge of building an entire airplane before, he said the international aviation manufacturing industry is doing well.
“I believe that there’s part of the market that isn’t very well-serviced and we can build an aircraft that combines the best features of a lot of aircraft that have serviced this market in the past.”
Aircraft Manufacturing, in Wetaskawin
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nine sixteenths
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Re: Aircraft Manufacturing, in Wetaskawin
Well heck, if Bombardier can do it..He plans to start with a design team of two or three people, and estimates it could take 18 months until a plane is completed and certified for flight.
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nine sixteenths
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Re: Aircraft Manufacturing, in Wetaskawin
According to the newspaper article, as of Feb 20 the company involved didn't even know what type they were going to build. Sounds like they are trying to blank slate a new type but I suspect they've vastly underestimated actual build and certification times. Article says they expect to have a type they want to build within a month and the first planes built and certified 18 months later. Pretty ambitious but maybe they'll first be built and certified in China, not Canada.
Re: Aircraft Manufacturing, in Wetaskawin
He told me he could get an FTU up and running for $75 and wheels up in under 90 days. That was two years ago. The situation was such that I will as sarcastically as this media will allow wish him the complete best of luck with his new operation.
