A new investor and plans for a new facility in Germany were recent changes announced by Flight Design during the company’s press conference at Aero Friedrichsafen on Wednesday. The light aircraft manufacturer has weathered storms, from the war in Ukraine that pushed it to relocate several years ago to headquarters in Germany and production facilities in the Czech Republic to financial insolvency in December. 

Flight Design's leadership team was vague about where exactly in Germany it would be relocating, telling reporters simply that they were planning to move to an airfield in the country. It will continue production at Šumperk, Czech Republic, with a focus on spare parts supply. 

On March 25, Flight Design General Aviation was acquired by the Shang Gong Group, a Shanghai-based publicly-listed company. This acquisition is expected to provide Flight Design with the necessary working capital to continue production. With this capital, the company announced it has restarted aircraft production, with NVFR and IFR certification rolling forward for the F2 model, which is EASA CS23 certified. The company currently hopes to produce between four and six aircraft per month by year-end, with the Šumperk plant extended to a capacity of 100 airplanes per year. 

Connection with Icon Aircraft

At Flight Design’s Aero Friedrichshafen 2025 display is an Icon A5 airplane. Last April, U.S.-based Icon Aircraft filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after a strategic restructuring process. In August, Icon announced its asset sale to SG Investment America, the U.S. subsidiary of German-based manufacturer Dürkopp Adler—the parent entity of which is ShangGong Group—in August.

Then in December, Icon announced plans to transition a portion of its manufacturing operations to a facility in China. Concurrently, Icon president Jason Huang resigned, with Lily Hu appointed to take his place. The company said it would maintain a strong presence at its headquarters in Vacaville, California. Its production has been primarily at Tijuana, Mexico, with a final assembly facility located in Vacaville, California; with the new investment, some production will move to China, according to Huang’s parting letter to Icon owners.