Bright future for business aviation

The Chinese business aviation industry led the growth of the civil aviation industry in the country with a 28 percent rise in 2011, said Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China on Tuesday.

"The growth of business aviation is faster than that of other civil aviation sectors, including passenger and freight transport," Li said at the Beijing International Business Aviation Show.

China's business aviation sector has seen fast development in recent years, but growth is slowing down this year due to the lackluster global economy.

"Our business growth will decrease by almost half this year compared with 2011," said Sun Chen, deputy manager of the marketing department of Donghai Jet Co Ltd's Beijing division.

Donghai Jet, which is based in Shenzhen, operates six business jets and provides charter flights for corporate clients.

Corporate clients’ international visits decreased this year due to the global economic recession, said Li Jiang, sales director of Deer Jet Co Ltd, which has a 30-aircraft fleet and is the country’s largest business jet company.

Li said that Deer Jet's year-on-year growth in 2009 was 48 percent, but that the figure will be around 20 percent this year.

But the business will continue to grow and Deer Jet plans to expand its fleet to 100 aircraft in the next three years, he added.

Some industries, such as mining, commercial real estate and the manufacturing industry, still support the business aviation sector in China, Li said.

Measures to promote the sector are also expected. The measures will include building special airports for business jets around major cities, like Beijing and Shanghai, said Li Jiaxiang.

Meanwhile, the reform of the regulation on low-altitude airspace is also expected to be initiated by 2015 and completed by 2020, said Du Qiang, deputy secretary of the National Air Management Traffic Committee.