Airbus Helicopters, world's largest supplier of commercial helicopters, signed an agreement on Monday to build an assembly line in Qingdao, a coastal city of east China's Shandong province, and to sell 100 H135 helicopters to a Chinese consortium including China Aviation Supplies Holding Company and Qingdao United General Aviation Industrial Development Company.

The factory will be located in the Sino-German Ecopark and is expected to start operations in 2018 with a capacity of 36 units a year and assemble 100 H135 over the next 10 years.

"With the further opening up of the Chinese skies and the increasing growth in the civil and parapublic segments, China is gearing up to be the biggest market for helicopters in years to come," said Norbert Ducrot, head of Airbus Helicopters China and North Asia region, in a statement.