China GA Report EN

GA MARKET OVERVIEW
GA Development Key Statistics - China vs USA
CHINA
1,379
11.2
GDP
(USD Trillions)
2,595 GA Fleet
GA Flight Hours
9.56 765 (Thousands) 23,300
SURFACE AREA
(sqkm millions) 2,524 GA Pilots 38,980
305 GA Airports
Population
(Millions) 323
18.6
203,425
2,564
USA
9.83
SURFACE AREA
(sqkm millions)
Data Source: World Bank, GAMA, China Aircraft Airworthiness Certification Report 2016, the FAA’s NPIAS 2017-2021 Report and ASG Data;
the US airport data is based on GA airports that are available for public use only.
China’s GA industry is taking off. According to the
Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC), GA aircraft
have experienced an annual growth of over 10%
since 2010, and the growth exceeded 20% in 2013. Despite a
slower expansion into GA enterprises, the industry still saw an
approximately 15% increase in 2016. GA airports and industrial
zones are rapidly growing, and in recent years, the industry is
experiencing a fast change.
With a vast territory, diversified land structure and large
population, China embodies tremendous GA market potential,
particularly when the economy has been boosted by economic
reform. While the US has developed its GA industry since the
1970s; in contrast, China’s GA started to develop —relatively
late— in the 2000s. Despite the delay, China is an up-andcoming
market, with a strategic target of catching up with the
China GA Fleet by Aircraft Type
Rotary-Wing 903 (33%)
66+32+2+G
2,776
Hot Air Balloon/Airship 65 (2%)
Fixed-Wing 1,808 (65%)
flourishing international GA market. Statistically, China falls
greatly behind the US, in terms of GA fleet size, mission flight
hours, pilot number, and GA airport quantity. As of year end 2016,
there were 2,595 B-Reg aircraft in the China GA fleet, only 1.2% of
the US’ aircraft number. Thus, there is much potential for China
GA expansion.
The country pays an increasing amount of attention to the GA
industry, and the government leads this development by issuing
a number of GA-related policies, such as procedural simplification
and regulation relaxation. More resources are, as well, put into
infrastructure construction. For the first time in the 13th Five-
Year Plan (2016-2020), GA is no longer under the category of
civil aviation and now regarded as an independent industry. The
market is now in a parallel position with civil aviation, railway and
highways in the country. Under the current Five-Year Plan, by
2020, there will be more than 500 GA airports, 5,000 GA aircraft
and two million flight hours, with the industry worth over RMB 1T
(approximately US$150B).
65% of the country’s GA fleet is fixed-wing aircraft; 68% of which
is piston, with mission involvement mainly in flight training and
agriculture. Rotary-wing aircraft occupies 33% of the overall fleet,
with mainly turbine (57%) and piston (40%) aircraft. A small portion
of the fleet (2%) is airship and hot air balloon, which are mainly
utilized in advertisement, performance, and pleasure flights.
The country’s GA operation concentrates on governmentinstructional
GA mission, for instance, industrial, agricultural,
forestry, meteorological investigation and marine monitoring.
Business-based flights, such as pipeline and powerline patrol, and
Note: Data as of June 30, 2017
8 | CHINA GA REPORT 2017