At last year's ABACE show, potential helicopter exhibitors were told that they had to truck their aircraft into the static display because of a ban on helicopters at Hongqiao Airport. That policy changed this year.

"On Sunday, a Bell 407 was the first civil helicopter ever to land here in Hongqiao," said Roger Whyte, NBAA's special counsel to the president. "It wasn't easy to get permission, and it's taken a long time to go through all the authorities to get permission, but we got it."

The corporate-configured Kingwing Aviation Bell 407GX, now on display here, can accommodate six passengers and features the Garmin G1000H flight deck. It was brought to the show by Hong Kong-based Aerochine Aviation, which was appointed as one of Bell's independent representatives in China, Hong Kong and Macau in 2009.

"ABACE is an important event for Bell Helicopter," said Chris Jaran, the rotorcraft manufacturer's managing director for China.­