Business Aviation is expected to boom in China over the next decade and onward. In January 2011 there were 116 business aircraft registered in China, including Hong Kong and Macau. Of that 116 aircraft, 86 were manufactured within the last ten years according to Flightglobal. The number of total corporate aircraft is expected to grow by about 600 by 2019. Aviation businesses in China are seemingly popping up overnight. Fifty new aviation companies were started in China in 2011, and Chinese companies have purchased Cirrus Design and Teledyne-Continental, with more acquisitions expected to come in the future.
Even until recent years, China has suffered from a lack of business aviation infrastructure, strict airspace regulations, and a lack of knowledge about business aviation, all of which prevented growth in the sector until recently. Even until current times the Chinese low altitude airspace (below 13,000 feet) has been very restricted to privately owned aircraft. Flights over China must have prior approval by the military and flight plans must be filed well in advance. The Chinese government is reportedly committed to opening up that low altitude airspace to general aviation aircraft within the next five years, however. Business flights above that altitude will still require prior government approval, though. They also are committed to creating a network of general aviation infrastructure by the year 2020.
China is a country that has had a growing economy for some time. As the communist country's industrial economy has continued to grow and its GDP rises, the wealth has began to trickle downward. China now has more emerging millionaires and billionaires than ever before. Like it used to be in the United States, a corporate aircraft is a great way to show off your wealth, not to mention an important business tool. Over time as the economy grows, more infrastructure emerges, and regulations continue to loosen up, China's corporate aircraft fleet will only continue to grow.
All business aircraft manufacturers are turning their attention to China, whose economy continues to grow while the rest of the world's struggles. Jason Liao left Bombardier Aerospace to found the Asian Business Aviation Association, which helps potential business jet owners in China choose the right business aircraft for them to purchase. His company has been very successful to this day. His jump is a sign of the strength and confidence people should have in the nation's corporate aviation industry. Bombardier planned to open a regional support office and parts depot in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2011, and Deer Jet opened the first fixed-base operation in southern China in the past year and a half. With all of the growth of the industry, there will be countless people needed to run FBOs, market aircraft, and of course fly the airplanes. China had a total of 8,800 civilian pilots several years ago, but now has over 10,000 ATP certified pilots alone, according to the NBAA. The job opportunities appear limitless in China.
More information on Chinese corporate aviation can be found in these articles:
Unlocking Opportunities in China, The Industry's New Frontier
I do tend to agree with everything that was written in your posting. That is why I chose the same topic to write about.
ReplyDeleteAbout the only reason that I could see this industry not taking off however would be due to the fact that most of the country's population lives on the east coast. You brought up some good points about the airspace opening up which would help out a lot. Also, international travel would be another area for travel via business with all the local trading partners such as Korea and Japan.
^Good point by UAV, that much of the population lives on the east coast. The population and business-market is so sparse far west of the country that it's probably a significant reason why corporate aviation is very slow to takeoff in China. Funny that there are over 10,000 ATP pilots in China as many were probably trained in the US. Air China sends mass amounts of pilots over to UND (University of North Dakota) for flight training. This happens at other various flight schools around the US, too. I checked out PanAm Flight Academy back in 2005 and they had an agreement at the time with Korean Air. There were Korean pilots everywhere on the field, training in Piper Warriors, working on their licenses -- with plans to return to China and phase into Korean Air aircraft. Not sure if PanAm flight academy still has that agreement, but many Asian pilots are trained in the US (not quite sure why, other than they probably feel/believe the US has the best training, and/or for cost reasons).
DeleteI agree with you with China always maintaining even in times where the other economies are not. But I agree with the full blog but that stuck out because I was just speaking with my co-worker and we was on the subject of the economy and China always succeed.
ReplyDeleteInteresting topic, I never knew about Chinas strict airspace regulations. "Flights over China must have prior approval by the military and flight plans must be filed well in advance." I never know that. Its going to be very interesting to see where China goes from here!
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