- Title: LITHUANIA: GLIDER INDUSTRY SET FOR TAKE OFF.
- Date: 7th July 2004
- Summary: (CEEF) POCIUNAI, LITHUANIA (JUNE 25, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GLIDER TAKING OFF 2. PILOT WITH GLIDER 3. GLIDER FLYING OVER RIVER 4. GLIDER FLYING OVER BROWN FIELD 5. PILOT IN GLIDER CABIN CLOSE UP 6. GLIDER LANDING 7. SOUNBITE (English) STASYS SKALSKIS, COMPANY DIRECTOR SAYING: "I think we have new opportunities. Now we feel already that borders are free and we can go straight to the market . That's everything, and it means business opportunities beyond our borders will be the same as inside our borders. We feel it is open." 8. GLIDER TO BE ROLLING IN PC SCREEN CLOSE UP 9. CONSTRUCTOR WORKING WITH COMPUTERS 10. GLIDER WINGS WAVING IN PC SCREEN CLOSE UP 11. GLIDER BODY MANUFACTURING 12. WORKER WITH SCREWDRIVER CLOSE UP 13. WORKERS WIDE 14. WORKSHOP WIDE 15. DETAIL LUBRICATING BY BRUSH 16. GLIDER OJN GROUND OUTSIDE 17. CLOSE OF DASHBOARD 18. GLIDER WIDE ON GROUND Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 22nd July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: POCIUNAI, LITHUANIA
- Country: Lithuania
- Reuters ID: LVARO75DPBQJZWQ2QQH5QH4CGM
- Story Text: Lithuania's glider industry takes off!
130 kilometers outside Lithuania's capital Vilnius,
one company is getting ready to soar into the European
Union market.
Glider manufacturer "Sportine Aviacija" (Sport
aviation) is working agressively to have its gliders
certified for use in the European Union and create
opportunities to develop its business.
Lithuania has just a tiny market for these engineless
planes made of reinforced plastic. Sport Aviation sells
between 10 and 15 of its gliders in Lithuania and other
Baltic countries a year.
But company Director Stasys Skalskis beleives the EU's
new open borders mean opportunties are growing for the
company.
"I think we have new opportunities. Now we feel already,
that borders are free and we can go straight to the market
. That's everything, and it means business opportunities
beyond our borders will be the same as inside our borders.
We feel it is open", he says.
Lithuania has some history in the glider industry.
During the Soviet era it was home to the only factory in
the Soviet Union manufacturing engineless aircraft.
The first fiberglass glider BK-7 "Lietuva"
("Lithuania") test flights were made in 1972. This glider
later became a model design for other gliders around the
world.
Sport Aviation has several competitors using the same
low cost reinforced plastic technique for manufacturing
gliders in Germany, but its costs are generally 25 percent
less than its German competitors. Most of its gliders sell
for betwen 30 and 50 thousand Euro.
Despite the company's high tech image howevere, it made
just made only a 16,000 euro profit in 2003. Globally the
demand for gliders is about 3000 a year.
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