Chinese leasing company to buy 100 helicopters from Airbus

China Minsheng International Financial Leasing Corp. Ltd. (CMIFL) will buy 100 Airbus helicopters in the coming five years, with the first batch of 10 to be delivered in 2016.

CMIFL confirmed the deal during the 3rd China International Helicopters Expo, which was held from Sept. 9 to 13 in north China's Tianjin City.

CMIFL is a subsidiary of China Minsheng Investment, one of the largest Chinese investment companies. The company has reached the agreement of purchasing 100 Ecureuil-series rotorcraft, H125 and H130, from the Airbus Helicopters during the expo.

CMIFL plans to offer these light single-engine helicopters to operators together with financing solutions.

"Helicopters are in need to accelerate infrastructural development and meet social demands including medical airlift services and passenger transport," CMIFL Chairman and President Wang Rong said.

"This agreement augurs well for Chinese operators who will benefit from new financial leasing solutions and potential customers now have a viable and low-risk solution to launch or expand their commercial rotorcraft operations," said Norbert Ducrot, president of Airbus Helicopters China.

Airbus Helicopters is a division of Airbus Group. Flying more than 3 million flight hours per year, the company's in-service fleet includes some 12,000 helicopters operated by more than 3,000 customers in 152 countries. It generated revenues of 6.5 billion euros (about 7.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2014.

In China, Airbus Helicopters has a market share of 40 percent. Endi