SOCATA

SOCATA (later EADS Socata and DAHER-SOCATA) was a French producer of general aviation aircraft propelled by piston engines and turboprops, including business planes, small personal or training aircraft, as well as the production of aircraft structures for other manufacturers such as Airbus, Dassault, Embraer, Eurocopter and Lockheed Martin. The company had its headquarters, along with much of its production capabilities, located in Tarbes, France. During 1966, the French aircraft manufacturer Morane-Saulnier changed its name to SOCATA (which is an abbreviation for Société de Construction d'Avions de Tourisme et d'Affaires, French for "Company for the construction of aircraft for tourism and business") following its acquisition by Sud Aviation. During 2000, SOCATA became a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational aerospace conglomerate EADS; shortly thereafter, the business was rebranded as EADS SOCATA. On 3 November 2008, EADS and French technology business DAHER announced that they had reached a final agreement for DAHER to acquire a 70% stake in EADS SOCATA. In June 2014, DAHER announced that it had acquired the remaining 30% of EADS SOCATA from Airbus Group (formerly EADS). During March 2015, the SOCATA name fell out of use, the company's name having been changed to just Daher at this time as part of a rebranding to align the division with its parent company.