Joint venture expands helicopter maintenance services

COHC General Aviation Maintenance & Engineering Co has expanded its helicopter support and services with rotor-blade repair approval, a company official said on Thursday during Airshow China 2012 in Shenzhen.

The approval by Eurocopter Group will allow CGAMEC to engage in a variety of helicopter maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services on helicopter models that range from the light single-engine EC120 to heavy twin-engine helicopters such as the Super Puma AS332 and EC225.

Created in 2001, Shenzhen-based CGAMEC is a joint venture of CITIC Offshore Helicopter Co, Eurocopter, and Samwell Aviation Ltd Co. It is the first Sino-foreign joint venture in the general aviation MRO field. "The blade-repair capability is a major step in CGAMEC's development, which supports the rapidly evolving helicopter market in China," said Dominique Maudet, Eurocopter's executive vice president of global business and services.

"Eurocopter will continue to assist CGAMEC in gaining new capabilities to offer current and future Chinese customers with local solutions to support their helicopters," he added.

Zhou Jian, CGAMEC general manager, said: "Our new rotor-blade repair qualification enhances CGAMEC's advantage in China. We look forward to bringing additional expertise to our MRO portfolio through this joint venture."