China GA Report EN

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• Mainland China is home to 1.379 billion people, making it the
largest country, in terms of population. In the past few decades,
China’s aviation industry has flourished. The government is
now looking to tap into the potential of general aviation (GA),
through new initiatives.
• China’s GA industry is made-up of 2,776 aircraft, as of June
2017. This includes fixed-wing aircraft (1,808), rotary-wing
aircraft (903), airship and hot air balloons (65).
• The fixed-wing fleet includes 330 business jets, 250 turboprops
and 1,228 piston and electric aircraft. The Sichuan province
is the most active, with the highest number of fixed-wing
aircraft. Business jets within the country tend to operate in
economically advanced regions, such as Beijing, Guangdong
and Shanghai. Turboprop aircraft, which are often used for
connection between remote second and third tier cities, are
distributed evenly across the country.
• The rotary-wing aircraft fleet stands at 903. Of this, 58% (519)
are turbine, while (40%) 363 are piston. Despite the turbine
fleet being larger, the replacement cost of turbine helicopters
is worth 97% of the market share. 48% of the turbine fleet is
clustered in coastal provinces, including, Guangdong, Shanghai
and Shandong. Nearly half of piston helicopters are used for
training, with Guangdong and Sichuan provinces being the
main operating base for this aircraft type.
• As of June 2017, there were 345 CAAC-approved GA
enterprises. In 2016, several operators received subsidies
from the government. The five operators to receive the largest
amount of subsidies included: CITIC Offshore Helicopter
Company (COHC), Beidahuang GA, China Flying Dragon GA,
Xinjiang GA, and Shandong GA.
• The largest turboprop and piston fleet operators, excluding
flight schools are: Beidahuang GA (87), AVIC GA (40), China
Flying Dragon GA (39) and Xinjiang GA (36).
• The largest helicopter operators are: COHC (68), China Flying
Dragon GA (30), Shanghai Kingwing GA (26), State Grid GA (24)
and Southern GA (22).
• To meet the growing demand of expanding fleets, both in
commercial and GA, the number of Part 141 training schools
within China has increased from 12 in 2012 to 22 in 2017.
To capture the demand of Chinese pilots, training schools
outside of China that meet the CAAC Part 141 requirement has
increased from 23 in 2012 to 27 in 2016. Currently, the number
of registered student pilots is 4,853.
• 311 GA airports cater to the growing fleet, compared to the
2,564 GA airports in the US. China has plans through the 13th
Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) to increase the number of GA
airports to 500. By 2030, 2,000 airports are expected to be built,
with an ambitious target of having at least one GA airport in
each of the 2,800 counties.
• As of June 2017, there were 224 operational commercial
service airports in China. China’s total commercial passenger
traffic reached 1.016 billion, with an expectation of reaching 1.5
billion by 2020. Commercial passenger traffic concentrates on
hub airports, with 21 of the top airports accounting for 70% of
the country’s traffic.
4 | CHINA GA REPORT 2017