Tue, Jul 04, 2006
Receives CAA Cert For 160A; Expanding Production
New Zealand's Alpha Aviation proudly proclaimed last week it has
reached the final step of its development phase... which started in 2004 when
the budding aircraft maker joined with Apex Aircraft. The company
announced it has received the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) type
certificate for its Alpha 160A aircraft.
"I’ve been with CAA for 20 years and in that time, only
three new Type Certificates have been issued," said CAA R2000
Project Manager Peter Gill. "It’s an exciting milestone for
Alpha Aviation and the New Zealand aviation industry."
Formerly known as the Robin R2160, the Alpha 160 A is an
all-metal, 160-hp two-seater, built for the acrobatic category. The
160 Ai model is equipped with a fuel injected engine.
With type certification now in place, Alpha Aviation Managing
Director Richard Sealy also took the opportunity to announce a
major expansion of the Alpha Aviation facility at Hamilton
International Airport.
"It gives me great pleasure to advise that our shareholders have
approved a NZ$3 million expansion of the existing Alpha Aviation
facility to enable us to scale up production to eight aircraft per
month by May 2007," he said. "The existing facility was opened in
July 2005 ... and despite being capable of assembling up to three
to four aircraft each month, it simply won’t meet the growing
consumer demand for our aircraft."
Sealy added that to date, the company has 21 confirmed
orders.
"We always believed our biggest challenge would not be selling
the aircraft, but producing them in sufficient numbers to meet
international demand," he said. "It’s a nice position to be
in, but does cause logistical headaches that can only be resolved
by expansion."
Alpha expects its expanded facilities will be completed prior to
the end of this year, and that production will reach eight aircraft
per month by May 2007.
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