SELETAR Aerospace Park has secured a new tenant in leading helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter.

It will take up an 8,200-sq-m space there from the third quarter of next year, and share the neighbourhood with aviation names like Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, Singapore Technologies Aerospace and Jet Aviation, which have committed to taking up lots in the park.

Eurocopter is not new to Singapore. The headquarters of its South-East Asian arm, which handles sales and customer support activities in the region, has been in Singapore since 1977 and now operates out of Loyang Way near Changi Point.

Eurocopter SEA services 300 helicopters, including the Super Puma helicopters, an aircraft used by the Singapore Armed Forces.

All its activities at Loyang site will move to the company's premises at the Aerospace Park, which is to cost 6.5 million euros (S$13.1 million) and have 25-per-cent more space.

Eurocopter president Bernhard Brenner said at the International Paris Air Show on Monday that the company was growing fast - with an expected 50-per-cent growth in number of customers - and thus needed more space for its flight operations.

He explained that the aerospace park's runway will enable the company to schedule helicopter test flights for its clients.

Eurocopter's move to dig in at the Aerospace Park is as much a vote for it as a place for its expanded operations.

Only in February, Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney - bitten by the economic recession - announced that they would postpone plans to open their facilities there.

The two engine makers are now expected to complete their projects only next year at the earliest.

Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.