Airbus Helicopters , the world's largest supplier of commercial helicopters, finalised an agreement on Monday to build an assembly line in China as part of a deal to sell 100 H135 helicopters to a local consortium. The helicopter sale is worth 700 million euros ($788 million) at catalogue prices, but the value of the deal rises to 1 billion euros when support and initial industrial investment are included, an Airbus Helicopters spokesman said.
The factory will be located in the Sino-German Ecopark in the coastal city of Qingdao, and is expected to start operations in 2018 with a capacity of 36 units a year, the company said. The deal, first outlined last October, was signed during a visit to China by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. China is opening up its low-level airspace to civilian aircraft, and the global aviation industry is laying the groundwork for a boom beyond private business jets with the purchase of helicopters that is likely to include fleets of air ambulances.
Comments
Comments are closed.