Page 18 - AAA MARCH - APRIL 2013 Online Magazine
P. 18

FEATURE CHINA HELICOPTERS









        China’s Choppers



        on the Rise





























        Despite Shanghai’s Hilton having a helipad for more than two decades,
        it was only recently used for the first time, when the hotel opened up
        the space for events. The move is symbolic of China’s tenuous launch
        into helicopter aviation, but with the recent relaxation of airspace

        regulations, things are finally starting to take off. By Rachel Sullivan


                                            China has lagged signifiCantly      since January 2012  (see page 19) is
                                            behind the rest of the world in embracing   fuelling what could be the start of a
                                            helicopters for non-military uses. While   booming era. “Just based on Eurocopter’s
                                            oil and gas companies have been using   own statistics, we can already see the
                                            helicopters to support offshore drilling   upward trend happening.”
                                            operations since the mid-1980s, it wasn’t   Boulnois adds, “With the general
                                            until the early 2000s that the first search   aviation sector booming, it is estimated
                                            and rescue (SAR) choppers were used to   that China will have more than 500
                                            monitor coastal areas.              helicopters by 2015; the fleet could exceed
                                               “The helicopter and general  aviation   1,000 aircraft over the next 10 years once
                                            market in China is still very young   the airspace regulations are relaxed.”
                                            compared to the US or Europe due to air   He highlights Eurocopter’s sales
                                            traffic restrictions,” says Bruno Boulnois,   numbers to make his point. “We used to
                                            CEO of Eurocopter China. “Today around   sell on average about five to 10 helicopters
                                            400 civil helicopters are flying in the   a year, which has more than doubled in
        ABOVE: Helicopters are
        very useful for missions            country, relatively few compared to 12,000   2011–2012,” he says, adding that they
        in areas where the terrain          in the US and 8,000 in Europe – therefore   are anticipating this number to increase
        and weather conditions              showing a huge potential for growth.”  to above 50 units a year, with the final
        may make covering large                He explains the gradual relaxation   figure being dependent on the rate of the
        amounts of ground difficult         of  the  low-altitude  airspace  regulations   opening of the skies.
        18   ASIAN AIRLINES & AIRPORTS  MARCH / APRIL 2013                      WWW.ASIANAIRLINES-AIRPORTS.COM
   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23