It was originally established as an aircraft manufacturer in 1923, under the name Ikarus. In 1954, it commenced bus production and since 1960 it completely shifted towards it. In 1992, it changed its name to Ikarbus. Since 2019, it is majority owned by the Chinese "Green Stone Investment Co.".
On 13 October 1923, the company was established under name "Ikarus – the first Serbian airplane, car and engine industry Kovačević and Co", with headquarters in Novi Sad.[4][5] The founders were Dimitrije Konjović, brothers Dušan and Milivoj Kovačević, Đoka Radulović and Josif Mikl. On 20 November 1923, "Ikarus" started business officially after the registration before the Novi Sad District Court. In the beginning, the company manufactured a number of foreign designs under licence, such as the French Potez 25, Czechoslovakian Avia BH-33 and English Hawker Fury; Bristol Blenheim as well as the locally designed Ikarus ŠM, Ikarus IO, SIM-VIII, Ikarus IK-2 and Ikarus Orkan.
On 3 March 1924, the first school type airplane "Brandenburg" was manufactured.[4] In 1927, the Yugoslavian Air Command decided that "Ikarus" should start the production of military planes; the factory for the production of military planes was built in Zemun. On 20 June 1927, "Ikarus" together with Military and Navy Ministry concluded an agreement to build a new factory of airplane engines in Rakovica. In 1928, the Sports Club "Ikarus" was established, thus "Ikarus" being the first company to build gliders in the country. By December 1932, the company relocated its headquarters from Novi Sad to Zemun. In April 1935, the first model of war airplane of domestic design was completed; a single-seat glider "IK-1", designed by engineers Ljubomir Ilić and Kosta Sivčev. In January 1936, the Yugoslav Air Command and "Ikarus" signed an agreement for the manufacturing of British "Hawker Fury" fighter plane, of all-metal construction. By the spring of 1938, the Yugoslav Air Command and the company concluded an agreement on the supply of twin-engine bombers "Blenheim", under the British license. In 1938, the Administration Building of "Ikarus" in Zemun was built.[citation needed]
With the start of the World War II (WWII) in Yugoslavia, the Nazi Germany occupation authorities confiscated the company on 17 April 1941. On 17 and 25 April 1944, the factory was heavily damaged in the Allied air-strikes. By early November 1944, the factory restarted operations.
On 12 August 1945, the first emergency Assembly of "Ikarus" shareholders in the socialist Yugoslavia was held in. On 27 March 1946, "Ikarus" was nationalized by the decision of the District Court of Zemun. Until the end of 1946, the subsequent decisions in form of property nationalization were made. On 22 October 1946, the first plane "Aero-2B" flew for the first time, the first prototype made by the air industry in socialist Yugoslavia. On 23 January 1948, the Government of Yugoslavia made a decision to establish the State Enterprise "Ikarus". Also, the Sports Club "Naša krila" was established.
In 1950, a single-seat fighter plane S-49 was built by engineers Ilić, Sivčev, Zrnić and Popović. In the same year, "Ikarus" manufactured the first gliders in the socialist Yugoslavia; a single-seat glider "Hawk 1" was awarded the third prize at the International Championship in Sweden. By the end of October 1952, the first Yugoslav jet plane "451 M" took off. In 1954, "Kosava" twin-seat glider received the first prize at the International Championship in England.
From 1954 onward, Ikarus also commenced bus production, originally of Sauer and MAN designs under licence, but eventually the company's own designs.[4]
In 1957, the airplane Ikarus S-451MM set the world speed record flying at 750.34km/hour. In 1960, the Ikarus S-451M, ultra light jet plane set the world speed record, flying at 500.2km/hour. On 14 November 1961, by the official act of the Administration for Military Industry Affairs, "Ikarus" ceased to be a military company.[5] Most of the personal and equipment from the aircraft section of "Ikarus" had been relocated during the previous decade to a new aircraft factory SOKO, located in Mostar, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1992–2019
Former administrative offices, demolished in 2018Official logo used from 1993 to 2014
During the 1990s Yugoslav Wars and international sanctions imposed on FR Yugoslavia, the company's production stagnated. As there was no political will to adjust a state-owned company to a transition,[citation needed] that trend continued during the 2000s and 2010s, causing Ikarbus to become indebted and work in limited capacity.
2019–present: Green Stone Investment Co. ownership
In March 2019, the Chinese "Zhuhai Yinlong New Energy" company began the process of acquiring a majority stake in company's ownership structure.[6] Since then, the new majority owner of the company is officially the Chinese "Green Stone Investment Co.".[7] However, there are concerns for the fate of Ikarbus, as production or reactivation of the facility in Zemun is still uncertain.[8]
Every vehicle made by Ikarbus has a name starting with 'IK', followed by a hyphen and then the vehicle's code: IK-1xxs are solo city buses, IK-2xxs are articulated city buses and IK-3xxs and IK-4xxs are coaches. Earlier IK 160(P)/161/166 models are also articulated buses. The letter N disambiguates integral models from non-integral ones.
The last produced models under Ikarbus brand were:
Ikarus S-49C fighter plane on display at Belgrade Aviation MuseumIkarus Aero 2 primary trainer plane on display at Belgrade Aviation MuseumYugoslavian glider Ikarus Meteor 57 (YU-4103), probably, at Jeżów Sudecki airstrip (Poland)
In 1927 an aeronautical section of the factory was found in Zemun where numerous planes were designed and manufactured, as well as under license. The factory included its own airfield. After the end of the World War II, in 1946, another two aeronautical companies, Zmaj and Rogožarski joined Ikarus as a wholly nationalised state aircraft industry. The Ikarus factory had manufactured in its workshops 475 aircraft up until 1962, when it stopped working for the aviation industry.[5]
Soko was a Yugoslav aircraft manufacturer based in Mostar, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina. The company was responsible for the production of many military aircraft for the Yugoslav Air Force.
Utva Aviation Industry, commonly known as UTVA is a Serbian manufacturer of general aviation aircraft, subsidiary of Yugoimport SDPR, headquartered in Pančevo.
Ikarus is a bus manufacturer based in Budapest and Székesfehérvár, Hungary. It was established in 1895 as Imre Uhry's Blacksmith Workshop and Coach Factory(hun.: Uhry Imre Kovács- és Kocsigyártó Üzeme) and during the Communist era in Hungary it dominated bus markets of the entire Eastern Bloc and its allies.
The Rogožarski IK-3 was a 1930s Yugoslav monoplane single-seat fighter, designed by Ljubomir Ilić, Kosta Sivčev and Slobodan Zrnić as a successor to the Ikarus IK-2 fighter. Its armament consisted of a hub-firing 20 mm (0.79 in) autocannon and two fuselage-mounted synchronised machine guns. It was considered comparable to foreign aircraft such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109E and came into service in 1940. The prototype crashed during testing; twelve production aircraft had been delivered by July 1940.
The Ikarus S-49 was a Yugoslav single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft built for the Yugoslav Air Force shortly after World War II. Following the Tito–Stalin Split in 1948, the Yugoslav Air Force was left with an aircraft inventory consisting of mostly Soviet aircraft. Unable to acquire new aircraft or spare parts for its existing fleet, they turned to its domestic aviation industry in order to create an indigenous design to fulfill the need for additional aircraft.
Aeroput was an airline and flag carrier of Yugoslavia from 1927 until 1948.
GSP Belgrade is a public transit company in the city of Belgrade.
The Royal Yugoslav Air Force, was the aerial warfare service component of the Royal Yugoslav Army. It was formed in 1918 and existed until 1941 and the Invasion of Yugoslavia during World War II.
The Ikarus 214 was a military aircraft produced in Yugoslavia in the early 1950s. Originally intended as a light reconnaissance-bomber, it was produced as a trainer and transport aircraft when the testing of the prototype showed it had insufficient performance for the reconnaissance-bomber role.
The Ikarus 215 twin-engine plane, was a Yugoslav light bomber and a training aircraft of mixed construction, the prototype flew in 1949. It did not go into production. The prototype was used for training and as a liaison. It was designed and built at the Ikarus factory in Zemun-Belgrade.
The Ikarus MM-2 was a 1940 prototype single engine low-wing monoplane advanced training aircraft featuring mixed construction and retractable undercarriage produced at the Yugoslavian Ikarus factory.
Sima Milutinović, was a Yugoslav mechanical engineer and a professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, at the University of Belgrade, the most prolific Yugoslav aircraft constructor.
The Ikarus Orkan was a three-seat twin-engined monoplane designed as a light bomber/reconnaissance aircraft in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia before World War II. It was designed and built at the Ikarus factory in Zemun-Belgrade.
Ikarbus IK-201 is an articulated city bus built by the Serbian bus manufacturer Ikarbus from 1993 until 2006.
Ikarbus IK-202 is an articulated city bus built by the Serbian bus manufacturer Ikarbus from 1996 until 2005.
Serbia's automotive industry is one of the most important industrial sectors and makes about 15% of industrial output of the country and 18% of all exports.
Zmaj, officially named Fabrika aeroplana i hidroaviona Zmaj, was a Yugoslav aircraft manufacturer.
Ikarus 280 was an articulated bus produced by Hungarian bus manufacturer Ikarus from 1973 to 2002. It was succeeded by the Ikarus 435 in 1985.
Kingdom of Serbia became part of the new state, Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. which was formed on 1 December 1918. Even though the industry was on a very low level of development, the state was among the first 10 countries in the world which developed their own aircraft production. Originally, only the parts produced in foreign factories were assembled, but very soon the production of domestic components began, so as the engineering. The forerunner of the domestic aircraft industry was the Airplane workshop, which was established in 1920, at the airfield in Novi Sad. The assembling of the trial series of Hansa-Brandenburg C.I. The series was named SBr, as this type of plane was known in Serbia as srednji Brandenburg.
The Ikarus-Zemun IK160P was a high-floor, articulated bus designed for suburban, local, and urban transport. It was assembled between 1982 and 1991 by Jelcz using chassis and bodies provided by the Yugoslavian company Ikarbus. Approximately 880 units were produced. During its operation, due to a decrease in the number of passengers transported, some of the IK160P buses were converted into non-articulated units.
References
Footnotes
↑ Approximately 59 production aircraft were built by Utva.
↑ Approximately 170 production aircraft were built by Utva.
↑ Approximately 79 production aircraft were built by Utva.
↑ Approximately 110 production aircraft were built by SOKO.
↑ An additional 20 aircraft were supplied complete from Czechoslovakia.
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€0.19 million [1] (2022)
(€209.59 million) [1] (2022)
€9.83 million [2] (2022)
