China Developing a General Aviation Industry

China’s airspace has traditionally been reserved for commercial aviation (passenger airlines and cargo) and the country’s military.  But that’s starting to change. China’s government is come to understand the importance of general aviation to the country’s progress and has been to try to streamline the approval process for the operation of small planes.

As reported in the China Securities Journal, regulations for the fledging general aviation industry will be introduced this year. According to China’s Civil Aviation Administration, there are currently only about 1,200 registered general aviation aircraft in all of China; as a comparison there are over 250,000 in the United States. And airports that currently allow and can accommodate private flights in China number fewer than 300.  Again, as a comparison, in the U.S. nearly 20,000 airports can accomodate private aircraft.

This is excellent news, of course, for China. However, such developments take time.  In the meantime, for Chinese students who wish to become pilots, training in China is not easy.  A more efficient option is to train for a career as a professional pilot in the U.S. For more information about how you can accomplish this, see www.pea.com.