Aero Vodochody

Aero Vodochody, commonly called Aero, is a Czech aircraft company whose main production facilities are at Vodochody Airport in the Prague-East District. It has been active since its founding in 1919 and was well known during the Cold War for the L-29 Delfin and L-39 Albatros jet trainers, followed by the L-59 Super Albatros and the L-159 ALCA light combat jet. After the fall of the communist government in 1989 it lost much of its trainer market; the American company Boeing controlled it between 1998 and 2004, and in October 2006 it was privatised again when Czech-Slovak investment group Penta Investments bought it for roughly 3 billion CZK. In 2021 Penta sold its share to HSC Aerojet. The company continues to manufacture whole aircraft and aerostructures for the aerospace industry.