EADS Socata has narrowed its list of candidate locations for outsourced production of its TB GT piston trainer aircraft to facilities in Canada and Romania after talks with EADS-PZL in Poland collapsed last year.
The general aviation division of EADS is to shift “partial or entire” production of the type from its facilities in Tarbes, France on cost grounds. Stéphane Mayer, Socata chief executive, says the family needs updating, with a glass cockpit and diesel engine the top priorities. EADS Socata is to invest around $6 million on developing the upgraded model, subject to signing a contract with a new manufacturing partner, he says.
Mayer says the shortlist has been reduced to two; one “from within the existing EADS global industrial partnership programme” in eastern Europe and another “an independent company in the Americas”. The companies are believed to be Aerostar in Romania, where EADS has offset obligations, and Symphony Aircraft Industries based in Trois-Rivières, Canada, which would receive funds from the Quebec provincial investment agency.
Source: Flight International
