2012年亚洲商务航空会议

As regulatory and infrastructure hurdles start to ease in China, the business of aviation is ready to take off in an economy that, compared to most of the world, continues to grow at breakneck speed.

The market potential for business jets in China is huge. A robust growth of 25% year on year for the next decade, as expected by the fair organizers, would benefit an important global industry.

Asian customers, especially those from China, value space and volume. Liao Yihuang is the general manager for the Shanghai office of a financial assets management firm. He says that for his company, a jet also represents a business card which will be presented to clients and partners.

"The concept of face and pomp are very important for us Chinese people when we do business. We like to be luxurious and impressive, because this is what our clients expect from us."

Liao is at the show researching different models in anticipation of making a purchase for his company. He says he favors the bigger sized jets.

"The first demand is not practicality at all; what's more important is whether you are giving your clients 'face' or not."

Despite the trends, some manufacturers like Italian Piaggio Aero, have shown up at the Shanghai meeting with small jets; not as impressive at first sight, but versatile and cost-conscious.

China Stem Cell Technologies is a Beijing-based biotechnology company providing healthcare solutions, mostly based on rare stem-cell treatments. The company often needs jets to fly patients in and out of China. Zhai Jiahua is the president of China Stem Cell.

"That's why we need to use the jets quite often. We need them. It's not enough to have just one. So we've already bought two, but that's still not enough. We have to consider the different mileage that we need in order to reach different countries in Asia. For closer destinations, we can send the mid-sized jets, but when we have to go further, we need to send jets with a greater range. So we have a plan to buy up to five jets in the future."

Given the infancy of the Chinese top-fliers market, the industry is also exploring ways to encourage alternative, more economical options as opposed to outright purchases. Such is the case of Bombardier.

With already close to 30% of the market share in China, the Canadian company is pushing for cost-sharing ownership. Christophe Degoumois, is the vice president of regional sales for Bombardier Business Aircraft.

"To own a business aircraft, you need to fly it a certain amount of hours per month, and for clients who are just starting, just learning about the business aircraft, first time users, they are of course maybe not entering to buy a business aircraft, but chartering a model, or a fractional ownership where they optimize the utilization of the aircraft with several owners."

Those attending the exhibition underscore the commitment from the Chinese government, which has included business aviation as one of the key industries to develop within the country's 12th Five Year Plan, from 2011 to 2015.

For now, this commitment has already translated into shorter times for achieving flight permits. But there's still a long way to go in order to develop an infrastructure that meets the needs of a thriving market for private aerojets, as very few of the country's 200 or so airports offer supporting services for them at this moment in time.

For CRI, I am Li Dong.