Sonaca Aircraft ends S200 production; employees will be offered job within the group

Sonaca Aircraft has decided to stop production of its S200 aircraft and refocus on services and after-sales, with the support of Sonaca. “Faced with the prolonged impact of the Covid crisis, Sonaca is therefore committed to offering employment to all employees, whose expertise will be more useful than ever in reviving activities within the Group,” the Belgian manufacturer wrote in a statement. 

Sonaca’s Board of Directors met today and decided to no longer finance the loss-making activities of its subsidiary Sonaca Aircraft. However, financing has been granted in order to fulfill all its obligations and to facilitate the continuity of essential activities for customers, namely services and after-sales.

For Yves DELATTE, CEO of Sonaca, “the cessation of production activities at Sonaca Aircraft is a necessary decision. The Covid-19 pandemic, which will have a global impact on the aeronautics sector until 2025, has strongly affected general aviation, in particular activities related to pilot training and education. This resulted in a level of orders well below the break-even point for Sonaca Aircraft.

Over the past few months, Sonaca has approached many strategic partners to help its subsidiary enter new market segments, unfortunately without reaching an agreement.

Following this decision, Sonaca has undertaken to offer all employees of the site in Temploux the possibility of joining one of the group’s entities in Belgium.

“We must concentrate all our strengths on our expertise in aerostructure, where Sonaca aims to become a world leader by 2025. The know-how of each Sonaca Aircraft employee will be a real asset in achieving this objective” explains the CEO.

Created in 2016, Sonaca Aircraft is a subsidiary owned 60% by the Sonaca group and 32% by SRIW. Its primary mission is to develop, certify and market a training aircraft. In total, 57 Sonaca 200 specially designed for training and leisure flights were built.