IPTN sets up subsidiary in Germany
JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned aircraft maker Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) has established a subsidiary in Lemwerder in the German state of Niedersachsen as its marketing arm for the European market.
A spokesman for IPTN in Bandung, West Java, Soleh Affandi, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the new subsidiary, called IPTN-Europe GmbH, will be responsible for marketing all of the company's products to aviation companies in European countries.
He said the new subsidiary was officially set up on Dec. 15, 1995, with an investment of 350,000 Deutsche marks (approximately US$234,000).
"We're announcing the new subsidiary now because its has just started its business," he said.
The products to be offered through IPTN-Europe will include helicopters and twin-engine turboprop N-250 aircraft, Soleh said.
The new subsidiary will also offer services such as aircraft engineering and modifications, he said.
He said that the new subsidiary will also help reduce IPTN's costs of procuring components from European firms.
"Presently, IPTN deals with several agents in Indonesia and Singapore in getting various components from European firms. Through IPTN-Europe, IPTN will have the products more accurately, quickly and cheaply," Soleh said.
IPTN-Europe is expected to facilitate the European certification plan for the N-250 aircraft, he said.
According to Soleh, the new company is also part of IPTN's plan to acquire a 25 percent stake in ASL, an aircraft maintenance facility owned by the state of Niedersachsen.
The N-250 aircraft, developed by IPTN since 1985 with support from Boeing, Allison and Collins of the United States, Messier Eram and Auxilec of France, the German Liebherr and the British firm Dowty and Lucas, made its maiden flight last August when Indonesia celebrated its 50th independence anniversary.
The N-250, the country's first domestically-designed medium- range commuter plane whose commercial production is scheduled to start late next year, is expected to obtain air certificates from the Directorate General of Air Transportation in July 1997 and from the Federal Aviation Agency of the United States in December 1997.
The N-250 is the centerpiece of Indonesia's aerospace program. Applying "fly-by-wire" technology, each plane will cost $13.5 million.
Certification
Soleh said that the N-250's certification in Europe will come from the Joint Airworthiness Authority (JAA).
"The project manager for the JAA's certification plan for the N-250 is LBA, the German civil aviation authority for flight- worthiness. IPTN-Europe will be the mediator for LBA and JAA."
IPTN will also set up a European liaison office in Bandung, where IPTN's headquarters is located, he said.
He said that IPTN has appointed several executives, including its vice president for sub-contract deals, Salomo Panjaitan, who is also president/chief executive officer of IPTN-Europe.
IPTN-Europe's other top executives include C.J. Spies (vice president for sales and marketing), Samsurizal (head of procurement) and Evan Elvino (head of finance).
IPTN, one of the country's strategic industrial firms overseen by the German university graduate Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie, was set up in 1976. In addition to the medium-haul 70-seat commuter N-250 plane, the company also manufactures the CN-235, a smaller version of the N-250, in cooperation with CASA of Spain.
The company also has two subsidiaries in the United States, including IPTN North America (INA) based in Seattle, and the American Regional Aircraft Industry (Amrai) based in Alabama, which will assemble N-250 aircraft with kits shipped from Indonesia. IPTN plans to launch its N-250 passenger plane in the U.S. market in 1998. The marketing will be handled by Amrai.
IPTN last year opened a permanent office in the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi to boost future sales of its civilian and military jets and to provide services for it Gulf customers who have already bought 130-seat CN-235 planes.
IPTN is also going ahead with plans to build the twin-jet, electronically-controlled N-2130, a 130-seat aircraft whose roll- out is scheduled for 2002 and marketing in 2006. (icn)