Let Kunovice (Uherske Hradiste) parent Aircraft Industries is returning to Czech ownership after 14 years, after its Russian owner since 2008, Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UGMK), agreed to sell its 100% shareholding to the defence-focused investment and trading group Omnipol.

A statement Omnipol released on April 27 said that the deal had been agreed on April 21 following a lengthy period of “intensive cooperation” between it and Aircraft Industries that had grown in November 2021 with the signing of an agreement on strategic cooperation in foreign markets, a deal forged with the participation of the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Mining entity UGMK initially acquired a 51% stake in Aircraft Industries, later purchasing the entire ownership in 2013. Founded in 1936, Let Kunovice’s most successful aircraft has been the Let 410 turboprop, first introduced into service in 1970, of which around 1,200 have been built. It will now pass into the hands of Omnipol’s Prague-based parent OMPO Holding. The amount and terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

The statement did not mention Russia’s war in Ukraine directly but said that “Aircraft Industries found itself in a very difficult situation after sanctions were imposed on the Russian Federation, which formed the company’s core market” even though the cooperation agreement with Omnipol had allowed it “to successfully develop business cooperation to replace supplies outside of Russia.”

Now, both Aircraft Industries and its new owner “anticipate concluding new aircraft supply contracts for customers in third markets in the coming months of this year.” Their main products are the Let 410 and its successor since 2015 the Let 410 NG. Aircraft Industries also owns and operates Czechia’s Uherske Hradiste (Kunovice) Airport.

“In the current crisis situation, it was a matter of course for us to do our best to save the final Czech aircraft manufacturer,” said Jiří Podpěra, president of Omnipol. “There are not many traditional Czech manufacturing companies on the market, so it is our duty to maintain and further develop their production. After successfully saving one legend in the field of aviation, the company Aero Vodochody, we want to help save another great representative of the Czech aviation industry.”

Omnipol acquired a minority stake last year in Aero Vodochody, a manufacturer of jet-powered trainer and light combat aircraft such as the L-39NG.