Airbus Helicopters and the Hungarian Government have selected the town of Gyula in the Békés County as the site for a new aerospace enterprise in Hungary. Gyula is located in the country’s eastern part. The new installation will be built up from scratch and will be the core of an emerging Hungarian aeronautics cluster. This was announced in Budapest by Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters, and Gáspár Maróth, Government Commissioner for national defence industry and defence development and coordination of armament modernization. End of 2018, Airbus Helicopters and Hungary had signed a Memorandum of Agreement to create an industrial cooperation for long term aviation projects.

The purpose of the plant is to manufacture high precision metallic elementary parts for the dynamic systems of helicopters for the complete Airbus product range. The production is expected to start in 2021. The Hungarian Government plans to establish capabilities for metallic surface treatment and a Hungarian Aerospace Academy to support the new Airbus site by training the future workforce.

The new entity will be a joint venture between Airbus and a Hungarian governmental partner. Airbus will hold the majority of the shares and will operate the plant.

“Hungary offers us the opportunity to implement our industrial strategy based on the specialization of our sites and to set up a greenfield aerospace complex according to the most modern industry requirements” said Bruno Even. “We also can rely on a skilled and well-educated workforce. I’m looking forward to welcoming Hungary as a new member of the global Airbus Helicopters family”.

Airbus release