IF THE PROJECT IS FEASIBLE, SIF "Transilvania" will have its own air taxi company - starting in autumn

• The project will involve significant investments, as helicopters are rather expensive

"If the study that we ordered will prove that a business in this sector is a feasible project, we will begin the project in the air taxi company in autumn", said Mihai Fercală, the chairman of SIF Transilvania. He said that the project will entail a significant investment, given the fact that the helicopters are expensive. "This will be a company based predominantly on helicopters, because I doubt we will see an airport in Braşov anytime soon", Fercală said yesterday.

The board of SIF Transilvania discussed the project three years ago, when the economy was doing better. The project however, was abandoned for a while after the crisis began, but it was brought back on the table after the company announced its intention to leave the shareholders of IAR Ghimbav and of the company Construcţii Aeronautice.

The chairman of SIF Transilvania, Mihai Fercală, last month announced that his company was interested in selling its shares in IAR and "Construcţii Aeronautice" of Ghimbav: "We want to make our exit from these companies. We will either propose to exchange those shares for others in which we are interested, or we will solicit a division of the companies in order to get a plot of land on which we can develop a company of the same nature - aeronautical constructions, helicopter parts, airplanes, etc".

Fercală said that such a company would have approximately 100-200 employees, but said he would not disclose the company"s strategy in this matter, because "it pertains to the negotiations that it will bear with the state for this purpose".