Hungarian aircraft factory to be built in China

The EUR 175 million investment of the Chinese subsidiary of the Hungarian-owned Magnus Aircraft Ltd. to build an 18,000 square metre aircraft manufacturing complex in China will start soon.

Massive project in China

Magnus Aircraft, based at the Pécs-Pogány airport, is engaged in the production of small aircraft of its own design and development of electric-powered aircraft. The project, which started last September, includes a showroom, a composite plant, an aircraft assembly plant, a maintenance unit and a development centre in the city of Wuxi, near Shanghai.

The EUR 175 million project, which is 70 percent Chinese state-funded, will see the showroom at a local airport completed within six months, InfoStart reports. The first unit will be built in July. The Sino-Hungarian joint venture, Jiangsu Magnus Aircraft Manufacturing, is expected to create a total of 300 jobs once the project is completed. Furthermore, it will provide a leading role for Hungarian colleagues.

Already in plans since 2017

László Boros, CEO of Magnus Aircraft, told the Hungarian News Agency, MTI, that they had been planning to open up the market to China from 2017. That was when they started their investment in Pogány. He added that the Chinese investment will result in assembly and development in the first phase, iho.hu writes.

He recalled that the investment will be launched thanks to the type certification of the Magnus Fusion aircraft by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in early 2022. The company also signed a long-term cooperation agreement with Rizhao Wohe Aviation Service Co., Ltd., which ordered 50 Fusion aircraft worth CNY 65 million (EUR 8,222,596). The order will be completed within three years.

The company has previously said that despite the pandemic, it produced 10 Fusion machines in 2021 and 15 in 2022, with between 45 and 60 expected this year.