ASDWire distribution date: Mon, 29 May 2006 17:00:00 GMT +0100

Aircraft Final Assembly for Africa or Middle East

Cotonou, Benin --[ASDWire.com]-- Officials of Benin Airlines, and Utilicraft Aerospace Industries, Inc., USA executed an agreement for Benin Airlines to establish and a Final Assembly Facility for its Utilicraft FF-1080-300ER feeder freighter aircraft.

The Final Assembly agreement covers 200 aircraft for which Benin Airlines shall be paid $150M USD over the life of the agreement. The Final Assembly Facility shall create employment for 250 people and operate from special purpose designed facilities costing $25M USD.

Utilicraft and Benin Airlines signed a LOI December 2, 2005 for the purchase of 100 aircraft with 100 options in a deal valued at $2.7 Billion USD which was secured by an initial $5.0M good faith deposit from Benin Airlines to Utilicraft's lawyers. Benin Airlines has acquired Exclusive Distributorship Rights for Africa and Middle East markets, including United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, and Lebanon - for a period of 25 years.

The Final Assembly Agreement grants Benin Airlines the right to complete final assembly-kits of the Aircraft including painting. Utilicraft will provide complete assembly kits shipped to Benin Airlines and provide or arrange technical assistance, including necessary training and specialized tooling.

Benin Airlines is currently in advanced negotiations with investment partners and some countries, to ascertain the most favourable options and best incentive package available prior to making its decision where to locate the Final Assembly Facility either in the Middle East or Africa.

Chairman of Benin Airlines, Mrs Ayele Arabella Butler said from Cotonou Benin today "We are making our plans to be ready to commence assembly of the first aircraft by December 2007."

"We must very soon identify the best physical location for the facility. The final decision as to where it shall be based shall be the country which provides the most favourable tax regime, ability to freely transfer funds internationally, security of our investment including from future expropriation and a ready supply of workers suited for this work. We shall train them of course and have contracted experienced supervisors and leading hands to get us started."

"As an African, I hope it will be established in Africa as we have very good people available with the right apptitude who could do this work very well. However, as a business person I understand the interest some of our investors may have in directing the establishment of our facility into other possible locations such as some of the rapidly developing areas in the Middle East. At the end of the day, we shall weigh up all available options and make our final decision most probably within the next 3 months."

The FF1080-300 ER version of the aircraft has a max range of 2,000 nautical miles, with a payload of 10 tons, or 18 tons for a range of 1,000 nautical miles including IFR reserves. Payload is carried ten LD3 containers or pallets measuring 88 in. x 125 in. each. It can land on short unmade runways and complies anticipated Chapter 4 noise legislation making it able to operate even in Europe after curfew. The aircraft features an on-board integrated air cargo information and real time tracking system which can be accessible online via the internet to monitor cargo shipment. Operating costs per ton per mile are projected around 35% of 727 freighters, which carry a similar payload.

Benin Airlines intends to operate the aircraft as feeder freighters in the growing African and Middle East airfreight markets, to offer them on wet lease ACMI basis (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance included), as well as dry lease and sale.

About Benin Airlines SA
Benin Airlines is new airline being formed to operate direct flights within Africa and to Europe, Middle East, and the Americas commencing operations in third quarter 2006. Benin Airlines is a private company formed with an investment base of $250M to allow it to purchase all its initial aircraft and infrastructure, have significant cash reserves and no debt. Launch operations include 2 x 747-200F cargo aircraft, 2 x 747-400 passenger and 5 x 737-300 passenger aircraft.

About Utilicraft
Utilicraft Aerospace Industries, Inc., (UAI) was formed, in 2004, to target the significant problem of addressing the overnight express, international supply chain, e-commerce, and global third party logistics entities, inability to provide effective containerized fulfilment and distribution in the medium haul (or feeder) route segments of air cargo. The result of the Company's research and development is a new air vehicle, the FF-1080-300 Freight Feeder aircraft, capable of cost-effectively carrying standard industry air containers on medium range/medium density routes, combined with an on-board integrated air cargo information and tracking system.

Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking� statements within the meaning of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements in this press release involve risks and uncertainties and reflect the company's current views with respect to possible future events. Readers are cautioned that no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual results or events may materially differ from those projected or anticipated.
In particular, the following factors, among others, could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking
statements: the company's ability to obtain and fulfil contracts for the sale of products, protect intellectual property rights and manage future growth; market acceptance of future products; product supplier delays; design and engineering certification delays or denials; and the introduction of similar products by competitors. Any forward-looking statement made in this press release is made as of the date of this press release, and the company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the company's business.

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