A Mexican conglomerate is holding talks with the Guanajuato government with a view to building an aviation complex in the state that will design and assemble planes as well as train pilots.

IK Aerospace Group, made up of light aircraft manufacturer Horizontec, aircraft interior manufacturer Siasa Air and aerospace software company Optimen, told the newspaper Milenio that the new complex could be built in one of three Guanajuato municipalities — León, San Miguel de Allende or Purísima del Rincón.

Construction of the facility, which will be the first of its kind in Mexico, requires approximately 100 hectares of land.

Giovanni Angelucci Carrasco, founder of Horizontec, said that the group’s discussions with the Guanajuato government are already well advanced.

“There is good progress in Guanajuato, where we already also spoke to the next governor. There is a lot of interest on the part of the state government for us to set up there. We have three possible options to lay the first stone,” he said.

Angelucci explained that the idea for the project is to have a private runway, a manufacturing plant, an aircraft maintenance center and a flying school for pilots, which could include future customers who purchase light planes manufactured at the new complex.

Horizontec, currently based at the aerospace complex at the Querétaro International Airport, is developing a new two-seater plane after building and testing a prototype made out of compressed wood and fiberglass last year.

The three companies belonging to the IK Aerospace Group consortium would combine forces to build the new 100% Mexican aircraft known as the Halcón 2 at the complex slated to be built in Guanajuato.

Measuring seven meters in length and with a wingspan of 9.4 meters, the two-seater, 100-horsepower-engine aircraft belongs to the light sport category.

It will have a flight range of eight hours, an average top speed of 250-300 kilometers per hour and can reach an altitude of 15,000 feet.

“Aeronautics in Mexico has an excellent future,” Angelucci said.

“Growth projections for the [aerospace] industry in the country place [Mexico] among the first seven or eight [manufacturers] worldwide . . .”

Source: Milenio (sp)