Reuters | | Posted by Sreelakshmi B
France-based Airbus said on Friday that it had agreed to sell 50 of its H160 helicopters to the Chinese firm GDAT in a deal announced on the final day of President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to China.
“We are honoured GDAT has decided to bolster their all-Airbus fleet of 26 helicopters with the addition of 50 H160 helicopters,” Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters, said in a statement.
Earlier this week, Airbus agreed to build a second Chinese assembly line in the country as domestic travel returned to pre-pandemic levels. Airbus Helicopters on Wednesday posted a 2% rise in deliveries last year to 344 units, cementing its position as the world’s largest commercial helicopter maker as it booked a net total of 362 orders.
Before cancellations, the Airbus subsidiary won 374 gross orders last year, it said in a statement. Airbus Helicopters, whose competitors include Textron subsidiary Bell and AgustaWestland, part of Italy’s Leonardo, said that it had secured 52% of the global civil and parapublic – government-owned or operated services like police and air ambulances – market in 2022.
Airbus Helicopters also confirmed that its helicopter fleet flight hours had returned to pre-COVID 2019 levels. Flight hours drive service revenues that make up almost half of Airbus Helicopters sales.
Cushioned by public services, helicopter demand suffered less from COVID-19 than the grounded airline industry. Airbus Helicopters Chief Executive Bruno Even told Reuters in September that flight hours had reached pre-COVID levels and the number of available second-hand helicopters – a brake on new sales – had fallen.