European fame of Serbian Sila - Aircraft manufacturer Aero East Europe from Kraljevo prepares for airshow in Friedrichshafen

The eKapija web portal has launched a competition for 2014 Aurea awards that will be presented to best investments in 2013. While waiting to see who the new winners will be, we have paid a visit to the companies whose projects were shortlisted for last year's awards to check how far they have gone with the development of their respective businesses.

Light aircraft produced at Kraljevo-based Aero East Europe factory have been the topic of articles in numerous foreign magazines. They were presented to the international public at the world's top airshows, and their performance and demo flights done by Milorad Matic, the factory's owner, always attracted attention and huge interest.

Serbia's Sila also amazed the public in Croatia. This January Kraljevo-based Aero East Europe promoted SILA 450 aircraft to a selected group of local pilots at the Varazdin airport.

According to the web portal Tangosix, which specializes in the aviation industry, "bearing the name that indicates how powerful this ultralight aircraft is, SILA 450C impressed all the attendees at the Varazdin airport who had a chance to see for themselves what it is capable of."

- Last year we achieved great results in the European market. We obtained a German certificate for SILA 450C, exhibited at Europe's largest airshow in Friedrichshafen in Germany, at Blois in France, Zell am See in Austria, as well as at the biggest ultralight aircraft show Tannkosh in Tannheim, Germany - Milorad Matic, the owner and director of the Kraljevo factory, says to eKapija.

According to Matic, their airplanes have been received well and attracted great attention at all presentations done so far.

- They were satisfied with both quality and performance of the product as well as with its price. In addition to causing an increased interest on the German market, this also resulted in us signing contracts with France and Sweden – says Svetlana Jekic, sales and marketing manager.

The factory in Kraljevo produced and delivered more than 20 airplanes last year, our interlocutor says and adds that they plan to double production this year.

Unfortunately, despite all successes, they still have no support of any kind in the aircraft production.

- Interest definitely exists, but everybody still wants certain guarantees because, after all, this is Serbia. During the last year we received various delegations and made contacts with the aim of opening branch offices in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Lichtenstein, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Greece...

Aero East Europe will remember 2013 for the successfully completed certification process in Germany and France.

Aero East Europe launched a new airplane from the SILA (Serbian Industry of Light Aircraft) series in 2012 – SILA 450 C, which is the lightest aircraft in aforementioned series and is specially adapted to the UL market (ultra light aircraft market), for which this company won the 2013 Aurea Investment of the Year Award.

M.K.