It is a punchline perhaps as relevant today as 20 years ago: China's general aviation market is the next big opportunity, and always will be.
There is no doubting the potential of long-repressed Chinese demand for the kind of casual flying taken for granted in most parts of Europe and North America.
Statistics from the Chinese GA sector paint a surreal portrait of austerity in a booming economy.
Compared with the world's largest market in the USA, China's operations and industry for GA seems hopelessly behind. Last year, hours flown by GA aircraft in China totalled 502,700; for the USA, the figure was 24.4 million. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the GA industry of North Dakota exceeds the combined output of the same sector in China. A 2008 study by Booz & Co reported 653 GA aircraft in China, compared with about 224,000 in the USA.
These almost comical statistical differences are fully explained by yawning disparities in infrastructure and government policy. There are 19,191 GA airports in the USA, according to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Press reports in China identify 244 civilian airports in that country. The Chinese air force controls all airspace below 1,000m (3,300ft), requiring pilots to request clearance for take-offs at least seven days in advance, although turn-around often takes weeks.
All this is changing, if you believe the latest round of messaging by the Chinese government. In July, China's State Council published a blueprint for raising the number of GA hours flown to two million by 2020, a 19% annual increase. Meanwhile, China will add 82 new airports and expand 101 existing airports by 2017, the Civil Aviation Administration of China announced a week after the State Council's blueprint appeared. The CAAC also committed to relaxing the military ban on private flights in Chinese airspace.
These pledges of reforms have been noticed. Chinese cities are vying with each other to become new hubs for training private pilots. Lacking an indigenous industry, the cities are gobbling up distressed GA manufacturers in the USA, the latest targets being Liberty Aerospace and Vertical Aviation Technologies.
But promised reforms do not appear adequate to the grand scale of the Chinese government's ambitions. For example, China would need hundreds of new airports to support forecasted growth in GA flight hours, along with the predicted leap in commercial operations.
The Chinese GA market can only grow - but not nearly at the pace promoted by its government.
There is no doubting the potential of long-repressed Chinese demand for the kind of casual flying taken for granted in most parts of Europe and North America.
Statistics from the Chinese GA sector paint a surreal portrait of austerity in a booming economy.
Compared with the world's largest market in the USA, China's operations and industry for GA seems hopelessly behind. Last year, hours flown by GA aircraft in China totalled 502,700; for the USA, the figure was 24.4 million. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the GA industry of North Dakota exceeds the combined output of the same sector in China. A 2008 study by Booz & Co reported 653 GA aircraft in China, compared with about 224,000 in the USA.
These almost comical statistical differences are fully explained by yawning disparities in infrastructure and government policy. There are 19,191 GA airports in the USA, according to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Press reports in China identify 244 civilian airports in that country. The Chinese air force controls all airspace below 1,000m (3,300ft), requiring pilots to request clearance for take-offs at least seven days in advance, although turn-around often takes weeks.
All this is changing, if you believe the latest round of messaging by the Chinese government. In July, China's State Council published a blueprint for raising the number of GA hours flown to two million by 2020, a 19% annual increase. Meanwhile, China will add 82 new airports and expand 101 existing airports by 2017, the Civil Aviation Administration of China announced a week after the State Council's blueprint appeared. The CAAC also committed to relaxing the military ban on private flights in Chinese airspace.
These pledges of reforms have been noticed. Chinese cities are vying with each other to become new hubs for training private pilots. Lacking an indigenous industry, the cities are gobbling up distressed GA manufacturers in the USA, the latest targets being Liberty Aerospace and Vertical Aviation Technologies.
But promised reforms do not appear adequate to the grand scale of the Chinese government's ambitions. For example, China would need hundreds of new airports to support forecasted growth in GA flight hours, along with the predicted leap in commercial operations.
The Chinese GA market can only grow - but not nearly at the pace promoted by its government.
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