China GA Report EN

INFRASTRUCTURE OVERVIEW
Infrastructure insufficiency is a significant hurdle to China GA development. Despite its second-place rank in the number
of flights globally, China falls behind other GA-developed countries, including the US, Canada, Australia and Brazil. Civil
airports and airport-supporting facilities are two significant components of GA infrastructure.
A civil airport can be divided into an air carrier airport and GA
airport. An air carrier airport is a civil airport with scheduled flights;
224 are already built. The existing airports are operational bases
for most business jets, and a portion of them are also equipped
with GA service capabilities. A GA airport is regarded as an airport
that is neither for military use, nor serving scheduled flights. GA
airports can be categorized into Type A and B: Type A is open to
the public; while Type B is non-public.
In 2010, there were 286 GA airports and temporary landing spots
(certified: 43; non-certified: 243); while in 2015, the number of GA
airports and landing spots increased to 400. According to Asian
Sky Group’s statistics, there are 913 GA airports and temporary
landing spots in the country. 74 GA airports are certified
(including 20 heliports), and the number of non-certified fixedwing
GA airports is 204, 33 heliports without certification, and
over 602 helipad or designated landing spots.
Under the Provision on GA Airport Classification, released on April
24th, 2017, Type A can be further divided into three subtypes:
• A1: GA airports with commercial flight activities using an
aircraft suitable for 10 passengers and above;
• A2: GA airports with commercial flight activities using an
aircraft suitable for five to nine passengers;
• A3: GA airports that are not included in A1 and A2.
Among the 602 landing spots, including helipads built by hospitals,
the main purpose is to serve emergency medical flights. Henan
province, with 104 hospital-constructed landing spots, is the
pioneer in air ambulance support, and sets up landing spots at
locations such as stadiums, squares, parks and schools. There
will be 850 international-standardized bases for emergency air
rescue by 2020. Apart from emergency-use landing spots, there
are landing spots for forest protection and tourism.
48 | CHINA GA REPORT 2017