10% of Workforce Going Home, as L-159 Backlog Dries Up in Wake
of Indian Decision
Aero Vodochody's L-159 subsonic trainer (below) hasn't won
a lot of friends in the five or so years it's been flying. Designed
as a logical successor to the popular but old-tech L-39 Albatros,
the subsonic machine has gained a reputation as either too
complicated, or too expensive for its level of sophistication, or
just 'not a good trainer' (whatever that means). At any rate, it
has garnered no orders, except from the Czech Republic homeland,
which ordered 72 of the machines since the 1997 introduction.
Now, 200 of the company's 2100 workers are being given pink
ships. Boeing, which owns 35.3% of the company (and holds second
place to the state's LETKA, which owns 35.7%) reportedly wanted to
axe a lot more; but the majority management is said to want to keep
the highest-skilled people around, in hope of getting a decent
order, from... somewhere. With last year's introduction of the
two-place L-159B, the training market could still turn to the Czech
firm, which is offering the matched-pair set of single- and
two-place birds.
Last month, after years of negotiating, India, long a primary
target market for the -159, decided instead to order some five
dozen BAe Hawks (below), instead of the L-159s. That nearly-$2
billion order had kept hopes for a third straight profitable year
at the company alive. Now, with debt a bit higher than cash, the
company's future will hinge on some other country's acceptance and
need. Soon. Aero is now looking at the end of production, hoping
its sales force can shake the order trees in Poland, or perhaps in
an African or Asian state, before the workers run altogether out of
work.
'Helpful outsiders' are offering all kinds of advice, including
resurrecting the sweet-flying L-39, with a 21st-Century
electronics, avionics, and systems training package. It was simple
to build, flew like a dream... and the tooling is still available.
With upgrades -- perhaps even a modern Western engine, the
"Albatros II" might be the price-point leader; but the development
of a nearly-new airplane, when no orders are on the table, might be
an investment that Boeing won't want to make, and the Czech
Republic simply can't.
Another road Aero Vodochody may take is as a supplier of parts
and subassemblies, not only to Boeing, but also in the spares
business, for the L-39s (above) and other machines, where its
manufacturing expertise and distribution channels are
well-established.
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