Aero Vodochody

Aero Vodochody (commonly referred to as Aero; Vodochody is a location) is a Czech (and Czechoslovak) aircraft company, active from 1919, notable for producing the L-29 Delfin, L-39 Albatros, L-59 Super Albatros and the L-159 Alca.

After the fall of the Communist dictatorship in Czechoslovakia (1989) and in the rest of Eastern Europe, the company lost a major portion of its main market in jet trainers. The sales of military aircraft declined in the early 1990s in Eastern Europe as well as in the NATO countries where the entry of a new producer was obviously unwanted. Aero was controlled for several years by Boeing.

At the end of October 2006 Aero Vodochody was privatized once again. A Czech-Slovak investment group Penta bought it for roughly 3 billion CZK.

Aero is also likely to upgrade its runway in Vodochody near Prague to a new international airport that would serve mainly the low-cost air-carriers and charter flights heading to Prague.

(wikipedia)