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Haite Group is looking to establish new partnerships with foreign companies interested in accessing China's burgeoning aerospace market.
The Chengdu-headquartered conglomerate operates a number of businesses throughout the whole aviation supply chain. They range from aircraft component manufacture, MRO, general and business aviation, right up to pilot and cabin crew training.
"Our growth path started from the lower end of the value chain and gradually moved up," chairman Li Biao told FlightGlobal during the Farnborough air show.
Last year, Haite opened a pilot training centre in Singapore, complementing a facility in Kunming that was acquired from FlightSafetyBoeing in 2008. It is also soon to open another training facility in Tianjin, which will focus on helicopter and business jet pilots.
In January, it also made a foray into the aircraft finance sector by establishing SinoSinga Aircraft Leasing. Headquartered in Beijing, Haite has also established platforms in Tianjin, Singapore and Ireland, and has already done deals to acquire Boeing 737-800s.
Li says, however, that the main focus of the company now is to build partnerships with foreign companies seeking to enter the Chinese aviation market.
"China has a huge market in aviation, but at the same time it is controlled by a monopoly," he says, referring to the state-owned AVIC conglomerate which controls most of the aviation supply chain in the country.
Although that would make it difficult to hold a position in the market, Li says that Haite's advantage for foreign partners is that it is not state-controlled.
"Some concerns of the foreign companies over intellectual property and foreign government – we don't have these," says Li.
The company has been in talks with some OEMs seeking local final assembly and modification sites, while it has also established four specialised funds that will also target foreign investors.
"We are looking for partners and we will support our partners. We have access to the market and we have access to funding," Li adds.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
