AC313 goes into production

A China-made civil helicopter has won approval from the nation's civil aviation regulator to enter into the market, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) announced Thursday.

This marks the official certification for the production of the AC313, Asia's largest helicopter.

The company has got five orders for the AC313 from China Flying Dragon General Aviation Co, indicating the helicopter will be put into production soon this year, a AVIC staff who declined to be named told the Global Times yesterday.

The AC313 can carry 27 passengers with a maximum takeoff weight of 13.8 tons, and can be used for transportation, rescue missions, medical aid and emergency search, AVIC said.

"The production of the helicopter has a great significance to the Chinese aviation industry, and there's a great market potential in China," said Li Lei, a Beijing-based aviation analyst with China Securities Co.

Li said the development of helicopters in China is still restricted by government policies and technology limitations, but the demand for private helicopters is rising.

State-owned AVIC has spent four years on research and development of the AC313. It made two trial flights to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in 2010 and 2011.

"China is in need of helicopters that can be used widely in emergency search, forest fire prevention and civil lease, especially in the highland areas with difficult landing conditions for normal planes," Gao Yuanyang, a researcher at World Civil Aviation Resource Net, a Hefei-based civil aviation Web portal, told the Global Times Thursday.

Gao said China's general aviation flight industry is still in its infancy, but the development of private helicopters will take the lead because "it's convenient for helicopters to take off and land, especially in China where there's not enough resources to build many airports needed for jet landing."

The international general aviation market is quite mature now and private flight business will be a new trend in China with the increasing need of private helicopters, Gao noted.

General aviation refers to private and commercial flights and does not include military or scheduled airlines.

Domestic aviation technology is almost mature, but needs improvements for accessories production, Shen Zhengyuan, an aviation analyst with the CIC Industry Research Center, told the Global Times Thursday.