Industry experts attending the annual Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (ABACE) remain positive about the sector’s outlook for the coming years. Jeffrey Lowe, Managing Director of Asian Sky Group, said that 2018 was a difficult year for the Asian and Chinese business aviation sectors due to economic challenges. The sector is undergoing adjustment, because owners have to dispose of aircraft, he said. The Chinese mainland has 338 business jets in operation, which is the largest fleet in the Asia-Pacific region. Nevertheless, business aviation declined by 2% in 2018, compared to a 10% growth in 2017. The number of new deliveries in the Chinese mainland increased from 16 in 2017 to 24 in 2018, which was however offset by a higher number of deductions – 15 in 2017, and 39 in 2018.

China has been experiencing a net reduction recently for a number of reasons, including financial reasons and the replacement of older aircraft by newer ones, according to David Dixon, President of Jetcraft Asia. Other industrial experts remain confident that the China market has “strong fundamentals”. The year of 2019 will be a steady year, and there will be much more sustainable growth in future years, said Darren McGoldrick, Vice President of ExecuJet Asia-Pacific. Paul Desgrosseilliers, General Manager of ExecuJet Haite Aviation Services China Co, expected this year will be flat, and there will be some growth starting next year. “In the next three to five years we can start seeing some high single-digit growth,” Desgrosseilliers said. “Even lower growth in the current fleet size can be good for the business, and I think over time we are all hopeful that China can support a large amount of business jets,” he added.

Lowe said he expected to have more economic stimulus including tax reductions and easier access to capital. “When the economy is getting better, we are going to have a lot of corporate jet needs,” he said. Admitting that the global market has been challenging for aircraft manufacturers over the past few years, he said he was still positive about the long-term trend of this business. “The fundamentals remain quite strong, so that’s why in the mid- to long-term we believe that the market will remain quite strong in China,” said Chadi Saade, Vice President commercial of Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ). According to Lu Xun, Chairman of the Shanghai Hawker Pacific Business Aviation Service Center, the annual growth of business aviation – takeoffs and landings – in Shanghai averaged at 9% between 2010 and 2018.

The domestic general aviation sector increased from 111 operators by the end of 2010 to 422 operators by the end of 2018, while the number of general aviation aircraft increased significantly from 1,010 in 2010 to 3,229 in 2018. Meanwhile, general aviation airports certified by the CAAC increased from 175 in 2010 to 229 by the end of 2017, the China Daily reports.

A total of 6,366 business jets took off and landed at the Hongqiao and Pudong airports last year, a 4.5% decline on the year. Over 30 of the world’s most advanced business jets and helicopters were on display at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport as part of the annual exhibition.