Just before the announcement of a public tender, Aero proposed a project turning its testing aerodrome into an international airport over the next couple of years.

"We're planning to open an airport, but it'll be up to the new owner to tackle how to do it," said Aero's spokesman Vítězslav Kulich.

Although the tender for Aero has yet to be declared, the company's aerodrome could be even more of a major lure to potential suitors than the manufacturing facilities, reported the Czech business daily Hospodářské noviny.

A new international airport in Vodochody would bring the number of international airports in the country to six.

Vodochody is located about 13 kilometers (8 miles) north of Prague's city center, and thus could become a major competitor for the main Czech international airport in Ruzyně, which is 10 kilometers west of the city center.

Still, the government insists that the winning suitor will be required to commit to continuing the manufacturing arm of the business.

Kulich said the proposal for the new airport is rudimentary and there are no estimates of future capacity.

A Vodochody airport would be expected to attract low-cost airlines seeking less-expensive landing fees offered by secondary airports.

Vlaďka Dufková, spokeswoman for the Czech Republic's only low-cost carrier, Travel Service, said that most low-cost carriers seek lower fees. It helps them compete.

Britain's low-cost carrier easyJet, which currently flies into Ruzyně Airport, is reportedly considering launching flights to other Czech Republic airports, so it would most likely consider flying into a Vodochody airport.

Petr Hloušek, deputy CEO of the Czech Airports Authority (ČSL), which manages Ruzyně Airport, said a Vodochody airport could potentially become a serious competitor.

"However," Hloušek added, "it would be premature to come to any conclusions about possible business implications when we do not know any details about the project."

In order to be eligible to open an international airport, Aero must first receive a license from the Office for Civilian Aviation and remain open seven hours a day, seven days a week.

To date, Aero has not submitted a request for a license, but its project has won the preliminary support of the Transportation Ministry.

"We do support further development of airport infrastructure in this country," said the ministry's spokeswoman, Marcela Švejnohová.

Other Czech international airports are located in Brno, Ostrava, Karlovy Vary and Pardubice.

It is also possible that a new international airport in Vodochody could, in the future, serve as a backup airport to Prague's Ruzyně, said Milan Holl, president of the Association of the Aviation Manufacturers of the Czech Republic.

"Ruzyně is getting overcrowded," Holl pointed out.

In the first six months of this year, Ruzyně Airport cleared 4.9 million passengers, a growth of 15 percent against the same period last year, said ČSL spokeswoman Anna Kovaříková. In June alone, the number of passengers was 14 percent higher than last year and a record number of 1.1 million passengers passed through Ruzyně's gates, she added.

ČSL's deputy CEO Hloušek said more than 10 million passengers were expected at Ruzyně this year.

Ruzyně also registered a record number of 76,793 takeoffs and landings over the first half of this year, or more than 500 per day.

As a result of the growth over the past couple of years, the airport began construction of a new terminal and an additional runway. They are scheduled to open in 2007.

Increased traffic at Ruzyně mirrors that of the Czech Republic's air space. Last year, a record 565,000 civilian aircraft flew over the country, an increase of 21.7 percent. Further growth is expected this year.

Aero spokesman Kulich said a new international airport in Vodochody could boost airport infrastructure in this country in the short term.