AveoEngineering Enters Joint Venture Company in Tumut, Australia!

Kosice, Slovakia • February 16, 2009

AveoEngineering, the aeronautical engineering and avionics company headquartered in Kosice, Slovakia, announces an exciting new phase in its growth, a joint venture with its AveoAustralia and AveoAsia distribution partners in an aircraft assembly company for the AveoPhantom™ SmartPlane™. This company, Aveo Aircraft International Pty. Ltd., will be based at Tumut Aerodrome, New South Wales, Australia (Location: 440km south west of Sydney).

Situated on the Tumut River in the western Snowy Mountains it sits in a fertile valley surrounded by massive peaks.
Explorers Hume and Hovell visited the Tumut region in November 1824 and their glowing reports soon led to settlement of the area. In the first 20 years, settlement stretched along the Tumut River with the main concentration being at Mill Angle, at the end of the Showground Rd., where Tim O'Mara built an hotel. Across the river was a blacksmith shop and a bridge was constructed to connect the two in 1850.
The name Tumut is taken from the aboriginal for 'a quiet resting place beside the river'. and by 1928 it was the headquarters of the Tumut Shire which includes Adelong and Batlow.
Tumut it at the centre of a beautiful valley at the foothills of the Snowy Mountains (See below). It is near the massive lakes, works and power stations of the Snowy Mountains Scheme which was Australia's largest civil works programme built between 1949 and 1974, harnessing the natural resources of the Snowy Mountains through a series of power stations and employed thousands of people during its construction.
Tumut is also on the edge of the Kosciuscko National Park with spectacular high country scenery, wildlife and flora, and snowfields in winter.
There are plenty of places to while away a few hours, but the most spectacular way to enjoy the Tumut area is by foot along the many walking tracks, with a fishing line in the beautiful river, and by a tour of the Snowy Scheme.

The internationally-known AveoEngineering aviation company will be setting up this aircraft assembly facility shortly at Tumut Airfield, and this will provide many new jobs for the Monaro region. Already in place is a refurbished workshop and hangar where the certification prototype AveoPhantom™ will reside when not flying on its comprehensive test program.

Series production of the high-wing AveoPhantom™ will be undertaken upon completion of the test regime, to be followed once again in 2010 by the low-wing AveoShadow™. More importantly for Tumut's local economy is the fact that all Aveo aircraft will be assembled at the Tumut aerodrome facility and exported worldwide including the large markets for light aircraft in the USA and Europe. Critical components will arrive by container from the AveoEngineering aircraft factory in Europe, whilst the remaining parts will be procured locally, once again providing an economic multiplier and employment. Customers may also take delivery of their aircraft at Polo Flat and receive special flight training.

Planned runway reconstruction and taxiway and apron works will turn Tumut into a very future-oriented aviation facility replete with the spectacular lighting and radio systems that AveoEngineering's avionics division has designed and developed. This division produces world-class aircraft lighting systems and aircraft avionics, including the nonpareil DigitalFlightDeck™.

For more information, contact Evan Hart (evan.hart@aveoaustralia.com), Michael Roche (mikeroc@aveoasia.com) or Paul Whittingham (paul@aveoengineering.com)

www.aveoaustralia.com
www.aveoasia.com
www.aveoengineering.com
www.aveosmartplanes.com