Skyleader a.s. is a Chinese-owned aircraft manufacturer based in

Jihlava Jihlava (; german: Iglau) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 50,000 inhabitants. Jihlava is the capital of the Vysočina Region, situated on the Jihlava River on the historical border between Moravia and Bohemia. Historically, Jihlava i ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of

ultralight aircraft Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

in the form of ready-to-fly aircraft in the

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The (; FAI; en, World Air Sports Federation) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It mainta ...

microlight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

and American

light-sport aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a fairly new category of small, lightweight aircraft that are simple to fly. LSAs tend to be heavier and more sophisticated than ultralight (aka "microlight") aircraft, but LSA restrictio ...

categories.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', pages 76-77. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485XTacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', pages 80-81. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.

History

The company was formed as a successor to the bankrupt

Kappa 77, s.r.o. Kappa (uppercase Κ, lowercase κ or Cursive Greek, cursive ; el, κάππα, ''káppa'') is the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless velar plosive sound in Ancient Greek, Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of ...

, in March 2005 as Jihlavan Airplanes, s.r.o., named for the town in which it is located. Skyleader owns 100% of Jihlavan Airplanes and operates it as a subsidiary. The company works with the Institute of Aerospace Engineering at

Brno University of Technology Brno University of Technology (abbreviated: ''BUT''; in Czech: Vysoké učení technické v Brně – Czech abbreviation: ''VUT'') is a university located in Brno, Czech Republic. Being founded in 1899 and initially offering a single cours ...

on aircraft design, having jointly developed the Kappa 77 KP 2U-SOVA into the Skyleader 100 to 600 series of

and

. The Skyleader GP One was developed as a new high-wing design and introduced at the

AERO Friedrichshafen AERO Friedrichshafen is a trade show dedicated to European general aviation. It is held yearly in April on the shores of Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the ...

show in 2010. Skyleader also does aerospace manufacturing subcontract work and produced the doors for the

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

airliner. The

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

n company ACS started producing the Skyleader 600 at the state owned TEREM-Letets aircraft factory in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. ...

in July 2015 under a licence agreement. In 2017, Skyleader was purchased by the Chinese firm Zair Aerospace, which is headquartered in

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city a ...

. Zair set up a local production line in

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The pr ...

to manufacture the Zair JA600 that received Chinese state certification in 2019. The JA600 is a development of the Skyleader 600.

Aircraft

References

External links

* {{Skyleader Aircraft Aircraft manufacturers of the Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia Czech brands Ultralight aircraft Homebuilt aircraft

History

Aircraft

See also

References

External links