Pacific Aerospace

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Pacific Aerospace Corporation (PAC) is an aircraft manufacturing company based in Hamilton, New Zealand. PAC makes parts for Boeing and Airbus and also took over aircraft production of Air Parts and AESL. It has produced around 600 utility, training and agricultural aircraft.

[edit] History

Air Parts (NZ) Ltd imported PAC Fletchers in kit form since the mid 1950s. It subsequently took over manufacturing in 1965. Aero Engine Services Ltd diversified from maintenance work into taking over production of the Victa Airtourer, a light aircraft it developed into a military trainer, the PAC CT/4 in the early 1970s. The two firms joined in 1973 as New Zealand Aerospace Industries. They became Pacific Aerospace in 1982, winning contracts to provide compenents to aerospace giants such as Boeing and Airbus. Pacific Aerospace took over NZAI's work on a replacement for the Fletcher, which became the PAC Cresco and has in turn developed this producing utility and skydiving variants, and then an all new utility aircraft the PAC 750XL, which first flew in 2003. The company has also continued low level CT4 production for over 30 years.

In September 2005 there was some controversy about government assistance to the firm after an American firm's order for 12 PAC750s was dishonoured.