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February 25, 2004

Aero Vodochody Trims Workforce

Czech Aircraft Maker to Lay Off 400

Czech aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody will lay off 400 people from its work force of 2,000 by May due to lack of contracts, officials said Monday. Vaclav Srba, the Czech deputy minister of industry and trade, said the layoff plans was due to low sales of the company's subsonic L-159 trainer jets. State-controlled Aero has been in trouble since the fall of the communist regime in the region and the loss of lucrative markets in the former East Bloc. Attempting to save the company, the government sold a 35.9 percent minority to The Boeing Co. in 1998 in hopes of tapping new markets.

Suppliers React To Lost Biz

As the news of the RAH-66 Comanche attack helicopter cancellation swept the industry, so did the reaction from key suppliers affiliated with the program. On Monday afternoon, Boeing stock was down about 2 percent on the news, with United Technologies off 3 percent. United's Sikorsky division is believed to be impacted harder than Boeing, since the latter currently manufactures the Apache helicopter and as such would gain some of the sales lost due to the cancellation of the Comanche.