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The air up there

Hot-air balloon manufacturer charts distinctive course

By Michael Heitmann
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 28th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Kubíček has gained notoriety for taking custom-balloon construction to the extreme.
COURTESY PHOTO
Kubíček Balloons created a "flying cathedral" for the Swiss canton St. Gallen in 2003.
About Kubíček Balloons

Inflating Began as a family business in December 1989, based off an American ballooning magazine that had made its way into Czechoslovakia
Inflated Revenues totaled 60 million Kč in 2006. Won a design award for its Ignis burner in 2007. Constructs all of its own components, including balloons, burners and passenger baskets. Fire extinguishers provided free of charge
Bursting Opened a new factory in 2005 and is constructing a second facility to meet demand. Customers come from as far away as Japan

BRNO, SOUTH MORAVIA
Hot-air balloons are the most romantic but impractical mode of transportation. Beyond that, to Aleš Kubíček, founder of the Kubíček Balloons in Brno, south Moravia, balloons are simply “beautiful.”
Kubíček started the company in December 1989, only a few weeks after the Velvet Revolution, and, buoyed by his passion for all things balloon, the firm soon established itself as a world-class balloon manufacturer, with revenues reaching 60 million Kč ($3.31 million) last year.
The company, having exceeded Kubíček’s goal of producing 50 balloons a year, is now bursting at the seams, with customers having to wait three to six months for their custom-made balloons to be delivered.
 “We are building a second manufacturing facility now,” Kubíček said. It is expected to run at full speed in two years’ time. “Let’s not rush things,” he added.
With prices beginning in the range of 500,000 Kč ($27,624), Kubíček’s balloons do not come cheap. But the balloons are a bargain nevertheless, since lower wages in Brno compared with Western Europe keep them reasonably priced, according to Kubíček.
The balloons are exported to Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with customers from the east, including Russia, the Baltic states and Central Asia, rising in importance.
While most of the company’s balloons feature the classic spherical shape, Kubíček has gained notoriety for taking balloon construction to the extreme.
In 2003, Kubíček’s team built a “flying cathedral” to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Swiss canton St. Gallen. Based on a Benedictine abbey scaled down in size to 26 meters by 31 meters, the balloon looked pretty much like the real thing. “It really was a masterpiece,” said Kubíček.
Pushing the envelope
Fascinated with flying since an early age, Kubíček started parachuting at the age of 15, and then took on gliders and ultralight planes. In 1983, he and friends started dreaming of making their own hot-air balloon.
Since all their information derived from a single issue of an American ballooning magazine that found its way past the Iron Curtain, Kubíček and friends were rather clueless at the start. They initially bought an old mill, because their original plan envisioned a sewing machine on tracks running in circles around a laid-out textile.
Today, Kubíček’s employees sew fabric in a wide, open-spaced hall on the outskirts of Brno. Although a mountain of fabric surrounds each sewing machine, little space is required in relation to the enormous size some balloons reach. It’s still mostly handiwork, since no specialized machine has been created for the task yet.
The company makes all of the balloon components itself, from the textile that comprises the actual balloon — called the envelope — to the wicker basket. It has even developed a unique polymer fabric for envelopes, which it spins at a subsidiary. Most other European manufacturers use nylon, said Kubíček, but his fabric takes stress well and is highly heat-resistant.
Such strength is necessary when the air inside the balloon can reach up to 125 degrees Celsius, shooting from the company’s specialized burners, which produce short bursts of 6-meter-high flames. This year, Kubíček Balloons won a Czech design award for its new line of Ignis burners.
Flight plans
Despite its success in recent years, Kubíček Balloons is still a family-run business. Aleš Kubíček and his wife hold 80 percent of the company. Michael Suchý and Radim Poláček, who head the sales and production departments, own another 10 percent each.
When not giving buying advice, Suchý takes to the skies in balloon competitions. At work, he’s sometimes joined in the air by customers, many of whom travel to Brno from places as far-flung as Japan to take part in their balloon’s mandatory test flight.
“They sit in a plane for almost 20 hours, only to come to Brno and take delivery of their balloon — it’s a pleasure,” Kubíček said.
Kubíček has no plans to expand to the U.S. market anytime soon, as the dollar would depreciate his work, he said. In addition, it would require applying for a U.S. airworthiness certificate. Although less strict than European regulations, the certification process would consume precious company resources that can’t currently be spared, Kubíček said.
When more resources are free, Kubíček would like to dedicate them to a run-down 700-year-old chateau he owns near Radešín, west Moravia, which he plans to turn into a major ballooning destination.
“We want to turn this chateau into a European flight center,” Kubíček said. “It’s going to be the first rental service for hot-air balloons in the world, similar in operation to a diving or yacht center.”
Balloonists could then pick the chateau as their destination or departure point, and tourists could take flight courses accompanied by an experienced pilot.
“Our budget plan calls for 69 million Kč [for the center]. Of course, we don’t have 69 million Kč yet, but at least we have a budget plan,” said Kubíček, who hopes to tap into EU funding in the future.
The center would be a significant contribution to the region’s makeover from a primarily agricultural area to tourist destination, he added.

Michael Heitmann can be reached at mheitmann@praguepost.com


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