JIHLAVAN AIRPLANES S.R.O.

Founded in 1952. Jihlavan a.s. has produced components for most of the major aircraft manufacturing programmes undertaken since then in the former Czechoslovakia. Other branches of the company produce agricultural vehicles and fork-lift trucks.
Between 1998 and 2000, Jihlavan built the Sova lightplane for Kappa 77, manufacturing responsibility then passing to the designer. However, Jihlavan obtained manufacturing rights to the Sova in 2003, shortly before Kappa entered bankruptcy. The aircraft was re-launched as the Jihlavan Rapid following establishment of Jihlavan Airplanes s.r.o. on 2 March 2005.
In late 2005, the aviation workforce numbered 90.