Airbus Helicopters starts construction of assembly line in China

Airbus Helicopters, the world’s largest supplier of commercial helicopters, has started building an assembly line in China in what Europe’s largest aerospace group said was a key step in its plans to tap into the Chinese market.
The company’s final assembly line will be located in Qingdao, eastern China, with construction expected to be completed by 2018.
An Airbus framework agreement signed in 2016 called for 100 H135 helicopters to be assembled over the next 10 years and the first aircraft rollout from Qingdao is planned for mid-2019.
China is opening up its low-level airspace to civilian aircraft, which could see increasing numbers of helicopters being ordered, with the H135 already used in China for medical services and police surveillance.
Guillaume Faury, chief executive of Airbus Helicopters, said in a statement that the start of construction demonstrated the company’s “commitment to further enhancing our industrial cooperation with China’s rapidly growing aviation industry.”
Outbound investment
China’s non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) in January-April slumped 56.1 percent from the same period of last year to $26.37 billion, the Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) said, underscoring the impact of the nation’s capital curbs.
Outbound investment in April plummeted 70.8 percent from a year earlier to $5.83 billion, MOFCOM said on Saturday in a statement on its website. It did not provide any explanation for the ODI plunge.
China tightened its grip on moving funds out of the country late last year as the yuan fell to eight-year lows. The currency has steadied so far this year, helped by the capital curbs and a retreat in the surging US dollar.
An investment “ice age” looms for China’s ODI in 2017, a study showed.
Earlier this month, MOFCOM announced ODI in 45 countries related to its “Belt and Road Initiative” over the first four months of 2017 was $3.98 billion but said that only accounted for 15.1 percent of the total outbound investment over the January to April period.
It did not provide an overall ODI figure when it initially released its “Belt and Road” ODI.

Source: Arab News