23 July 2012

Glasair Aircraft Sold to Jilin Hanxing Group of China

In what is becoming an increasingly frequent story yet another US aircraft manufacturer has been sold to a Chinese company. This time it is kit maker Glasair Aircraft, who build the Glasair and Glastar series of kit planes in Arlington, Washington, that has been sold.

The buyer is a private Chinese company, Jilin Hanxing Group, who have formed a new company to operate Glasair, Glasair Aviation USA LLC.

The new owners say that they plan to certify the Glastar Sportsman design and retain all production and jobs in the USA. Of note a certified version of the Glastar was previously produced for a short time in Canada as the Symphony SA-160.

So here is how the foreign ownership list now looks:

  • Cirrus Aircraft - Government of the Peoples Republic of China
  • Continental Engines - Government of the Peoples Republic of China
  • Diamond Aircraft - majority owned by Medrar Financial Group, Dubai
  • Epic Aircraft - Engineering LLC, Russia
  • Glasair Aircraft - Jilin Hanxing Group, China
  • Hawker Beechcraft - Superior Aviation Beijing, China
  • Liberty Aerospace - 75% owned by the Kuwait Finance House, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait Finance House of Bahrain
  • Piper Aircraft - Government of Brunei
  • Superior Air Parts - Weifang Tianxiang Technology Group, China

I wonder who will be next.