Austria’s Diamond Aircraft Industries has been acquired by China’s Wanfeng Aviation Industry Co. Ltd.

The acquisition, which also includes the company’s Austro Engine division, comes a year after the Wanfeng Auto Holding subsidiary bought a 60% stake in the Canadian operation, and is intended to assure the brand’s “continued long-term future”, a statement from Diamond Aircraft said.

‘Life’s work’

“Diamond is my life’s work. In the interest of a successful long term future, we needed to find the right partner to continue our good work.”

By Christian Dries, former CEO of Diamond Aircraft

Dries added: “Wanfeng and specifically Mr. Bin Chen share my vision of the future of general aviation and are investing for the right reasons, with a long-term strategy and the resources to see their vision through. I look forward to seeing Diamond develop further and based on our successful year-long partnership in Diamond Canada, I am fully satisfied that I leave Diamond in very good hands.”

Mr. Bin Chen, Chairman of Wanfeng Aviation Industry and President of the Wanfeng Auto Holding Group, said: “We were attracted to Diamond’s leadership position in the market. Under the 25-year leadership of founder Mr. Christian Dries, the Diamond team has developed a broad range of superb aircraft that have gained worldwide respect for their performance, efficiency, safety and innovation. Based on this excellent foundation, we intend to take Diamond to a long-term leadership position in worldwide general aviation.”

In 2017, we had the opportunity to do a number of interviews with Christian Dries. You can replay them here: