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A Czech company is flying high just two years after being created. Primoco UAV produces mid-sized unmanned aircraft used to survey oil and gas pipelines, create 3-D maps, or for monitoring borders. And over the next month it plans a stock exchange launch to fuel its development.

An historical Lockheed Electra that Czech industrialist Jan Antonín Baťa used to travel the world landed at Otrokovice in the Zlín area on Monday, eighty years after it left. The crew brought with them a Czech tricolour that the pilot who flew J.A. Baťa had on his jacket. Thousands of people turned out to see the historic plane land. J.A. Baťa was the half-brother of Baťa shoe empire founder Tomáš Baťa; after fleeing the Nazis he eventually settled in Brazil.

Nirvana Systems is a company based in Přerov, the Czech Republic, which for years has been building paramotors and kits and other gear for the sport of PPG – powered paragliding. The company was founded by successful pilot Pavel Březina and recently was involved in a major project which brought it national attention. For two years, the firm developed a new engine and other systems for an autogyro (or gyroplane) that became the first to receive official certification to drive on Czech roads.

The aviation industry is one where the Czech Republic boasts a proud tradition but a reduced and sometimes problematic recent past. Now it appears to be on the rebound and the government has high hopes that the country’s biggest aviation company, Aero Vodochody, and one of its key aircraft could be at the centre of the revival.

A company owned by Czech businessman Václav Fischer has launched international arbitration proceedings against the Czech Republic. The Germany-based firm, Aircraftleasing Meier und Fischer (AMF), is demanding CZK 3.1 billion crowns as compensation for two Boeing 737 planes that were seized in 2005 when Mr. Fischer was declared bankrupt. AMF filed notice regarding the dispute with the Ministry of Finance in February, citing an international investment protection treaty. Mr. Fischer was at one time one of the best-known names in the outgoing tourism business in the Czech Republic.

Czech prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka will begin a two day official visit to Sweden Thursday, the first by a Czech government leader since 2007. Sobotka will be accompanies by a large business delegation, mostly from the energy, transport, and engineering sectors. A meeting with Swedish counterpart, Stefan Löfven, will take place Thursday. Discussions will also cover stepped up defense cooperation, a key issue given the fact that the Czech Army uses the Swedish built JAS-39 jet to defend its airspace.

The Czech government will next Thursday sign an investment contract with the US company General Electric relating to a plant to develop, test and produce turboprop aircraft engines, the Czech News Agency reported on Friday. The investment was previously reported at CZK 9.5 billion. The deal will make the Czech Republic one of only five countries around the globe where aircraft engines are designed and manufactured.

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka on Sunday advocated keeping production of the L-410 airplanes manufactured by the Russian-owned company Aircraft Industries in Kunovice, South Moravia. The employees went on strike alert on Wednesday over fears that production will be reduced or shifted to Russia. The future of the company is scheduled to be discussed by all parties concerned in Prague on Monday. The situation in the company has been deteriorating, with sales of the LET aircraft in one of the main markets, Russia, dropping sharply. Many of the 900-strong workforce have been forced to take leave with reduced wages.

After a three-day journey on road from Prague, a former government airplane Tupolev Tu-154 arrived in the Kunovice Air Museum in South Moravia on Sunday. The 45-meter long plane, which carried former presidents Václav Klaus and Václav Havel or the the gold-winning Czech hockey team from Nagano, was saved from demolition by a group of enthusiasts. After covering the distance on 383 kilometers on a semitrailer, its transport now aspires for an entry into the Czech book of records.

Thousands of people turned out on Saturday for the first day of the weekend-long NATO Days and Czech Airforce Days military show at the Mošnov airfield near Ostrava. Among those who visited the event was the Czech prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, who said he was there as it was the largest security show in Europe and security issues were at present highly topical. Mr. Sobotka said he was glad that the 2017 budget to be approved by the government next week included defence spending of CZK 52 billion, CZK 4 billion more than the figure for 2016. He said the world today was not a safe place and the Czech Republic needed to be aware of that and take appropriate measures. Over 250 pieces of military hardware, including various fighter planes, are on show at the free event.