THE Shandong Provincial Government has approved a Qingdao proposal to build an industrial park for general-purpose helicopters.

    The park is expected to be home to a cluster of major aviation enterprises, covering manufacturing, research and development, service, logistics and training in the aviation industry.

    The park was off to a flying start with the construction of a US$23.5-million assembly plant for U.S. Brantly helicopters.

    Costing US$75 million, the park also started work on an assembly and repair project for Russian helicopters, which is scheduled to open in June next year.

    The park is in talks to secure more aviation manufacturing and service projects.

    (Li Hao, Han Guangliang)