The United States' Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has issued a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) to Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI)'s Bedek Aviation Group for conversion of a Boeing 747-400 combi aircraft from passenger to special freighter configuration. Bedek received the FAA certification certificate along with the Israel Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) certification on May 30, 2006.

On June 2, 2006, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) issued their STC for the conversion.
 
The aircraft, used for the certification process, is owned by Guggenheim Aviation, a U.S. leasing company and will be operated by Air China.
 
Certification from the European Aviation Safety Association (EASA) is also expected shortly.
 
The first flight of the certified aircraft was performed on April 9, 2006 and completed all the test and certification flights in less than 60 days.

Itzhak Nissan, IAI's President and CEO, said that: "certification by the FAA, CAAC and CAA is a vote of confidence in IAI's ability to perform at the highest levels of technical expertise. IAI has been and will continue to be a global leader in the cargo conversion field."

"This aircraft is the first of its type to be certified as special freighter from its original configuration," said David Arzi, IAI Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Bedek Aviation Group. "Its certification reflects the professionalism and dedication of our technical and engineering teams."
 
Bedek has converted more than 80 aircraft into cargo configurations. These include Boeing 737, 747 and 767 aircraft which have accumulated more than 2.5 million safe flight hours all over the world.

 
For further information, please contact:

Doron Suslik
Deputy Corp. VP for Communications
Tel: 972 (3) 935-8509
Fax: 972 (3) 935-8512
Email: hpaz@iai.co.il