Sudan formally opened its first plant for producing aircraft on Sunday in a drive to meet the country's growing aviation need.
At the opening ceremony of the Safat Airlines Group, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir announced the start of the production of the first generation of aircraft to be made in Sudan, which is named "Safat."
Sudanese Minister of Industry Jalal Yousuf al-Diqair said at the ceremony that "the aim of the plant, which will carry out the assembling, manufacturing, development and maintenance of aircraft, is to meet the country's growing need for aircraft," adding that the plant would lead to the promotion of the aviation industry and techniques in Sudan and would enhance the capacity of the institutions of industrial and academic research.
Executive Director of the Safat Airlines Group Khalid Al-Ahmed Al-Abdullah said that by establishing the Safat Plant, Sudan would realize the dream of "sudanize" the aviation industry as a strategic objective, adding that the compound would work to reduce the cost of overseas aircraft maintenance by a large margin.
He said that the first generation of plane to be produced in the plant would use 85 percent of domestic products and 15 percent of imported parts.
The state-owned Safat Plant, which will produce at the first stage three kinds of small aircraft, namely Safat 01, Safat 02 and Safat 03, is divided into sections for manufacturing the Safat planes and maintenance of other cargo planes.