Shanghai's first helicopter leasing firm will launch commercial flights on May 16 or 17, but individual clients will have to wait for another year until the firm can get further approval, Oriental Morning Post reported on May 10.

Shanghai Heli General Aviation Co charges about 10,000 yuan (US$1,300) per hour for each helicopter, which has a license to fly over city.

Heli's helicopters can operate in six provinces in East China - Shandong, Fujian, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

But in Shanghai, "we can only cover air spaces outside the city's mid-ring road," Zhang Fulai, a senior official with Heli, told the newspaper on May 9.

The company, with a registered capital of 20 million yuan, got a license for general aviation business with helicopters from the East China Bureau of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) in mid-April.

There are about 50 to 60 helicopter leasing firms across China, but Shanghai restricted the issuing of a license in the past because of its crowded sky.

However, individual clients have to wait for another one year before the firm can get further approval from the bureau which will depend on its record of flying over the next 12 months.

The helicopter leasing firm is based at the city's only helicopter base at Shanghai Pudong Waigaoqiao Gaodong.

"We have signed contracts with Shandong's provincial government and the Shanghai Photographers' Association," Zhang said. "And another negotiation is under way with a company in Changshu."

Shanghai Heli now owns two helicopters - an S-300C which can seat three people, and an S-333, which is a four-seater.

The company is 85 percent owned by Shanghai Sikorsky, a joint venture between the US helicopter maker, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp, and Shanghai Little Eagle Science and Technology Co, which the privately-owned Suzhou company has the remaining 15 percent stake.