At the ADEX 2019 aerospace and defence exhibition held in Seoul, South Korea from 15-20 October, Kopter Group and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) signed a memorandum of understanding. This framework launches the start of collaboration between the two companies around local assembly, production, customisation and sales of Kopter's SH09 single-engine helicopter in Korea. This cooperation could also lead to helicopter sales to other Asian countries from Korea.

Kopter's executive VP of customers Christian Gras says: “We are very proud to cooperate with KAI, whose significant experience of the helicopter industry makes it a highly valuable partner. We do believe that a partnership between our two companies will be very beneficial for both parties going forward, especially as the SH09 is the ideal complement to KAI's current helicopter portfolio and fully meets Korea's market needs.”

KAI executive VP Sang Choi adds: “We are extremely pleased to cooperate with Kopter as a key partner in the Asia Pacific region. We strongly believe that this will be a great opportunity to add the SH09 single-engine helicopter to our rotary wing production portfolio. Furthermore, an enlarged collaboration in the technical area between both companies will create significant prospects in both the Korean and Asia Pacific markets.”