EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • Mainland <strong>China</strong> is home to 1.379 billion people, making it the largest country, in terms of population. In the past few decades, <strong>China</strong>’s aviation industry has flourished. The government is now looking to tap into the potential of general aviation (<strong>GA</strong>), through new initiatives. • <strong>China</strong>’s <strong>GA</strong> 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 <strong>GA</strong> 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 <strong>GA</strong>, <strong>China</strong> Flying Dragon <strong>GA</strong>, Xinjiang <strong>GA</strong>, and Shandong <strong>GA</strong>. • The largest turboprop and piston fleet operators, excluding flight schools are: Beidahuang <strong>GA</strong> (87), AVIC <strong>GA</strong> (40), <strong>China</strong> Flying Dragon <strong>GA</strong> (39) and Xinjiang <strong>GA</strong> (36). • The largest helicopter operators are: COHC (68), <strong>China</strong> Flying Dragon <strong>GA</strong> (30), Shanghai Kingwing <strong>GA</strong> (26), State Grid <strong>GA</strong> (24) and Southern <strong>GA</strong> (22). • To meet the growing demand of expanding fleets, both in commercial and <strong>GA</strong>, the number of Part 141 training schools within <strong>China</strong> has increased from 12 in 2012 to 22 in 2017. To capture the demand of Chinese pilots, training schools outside of <strong>China</strong> 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 <strong>GA</strong> airports cater to the growing fleet, compared to the 2,564 <strong>GA</strong> airports in the US. <strong>China</strong> has plans through the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) to increase the number of <strong>GA</strong> airports to 500. By 2030, 2,000 airports are expected to be built, with an ambitious target of having at least one <strong>GA</strong> airport in each of the 2,800 counties. • As of June 2017, there were 224 operational commercial service airports in <strong>China</strong>. <strong>China</strong>’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 <strong>GA</strong> REPORT 2017
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