Piaggio Aero is not alone in seeing the potential of the industry in China. The first time Bingham came to the Zhuhai Air Show, in 2004, just 12 aircraft were on display. At last month's show there were 100, illustrating how important China has become for aircraft makers, he said.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China projects that the number of general aviation aircraft will grow from about 1,200 now to about 2,000 in 2015 and between 10,000 and 12,000 in 2020.
Despite a slowdown in the economy, nearly all major companies remain optimistic about the Chinese market. In fact, aircraft makers and consultancies say that China is one of the markets driving demand in general aviation.
A report by aircraft maker Bombardier predicts that 600 new business jets will be delivered to China by 2019; at present there are little more than 100 in the fleet. That is in line with strong purchases in the three years to 2011, when the number of business jets grew from 20 to 109.
Gao of Beihang University said the number of business jets in China almost doubled from 2010 to 2011, and the new orders for business jets from China is about 20 percent of orders worldwide.
Bombardier said in its report that worldwide demand for business jets correlates with wealth creation, which is largely driven by economic growth.
A report in 2010 by Forbes said there were 1,011 billionaires in the world, 27 percent more than the previous year. The biggest rise was in China, where the number more than doubled to 107.
In China the increasing number of billionaires and multimillionaires has also driven up sales of other aircraft, such as helicopters.
At the start of this year, Bell Helicopter of the US, which first entered China in 1979, had 24 helicopters in service in the country; the company said that it will end the year with almost double that.
"China represents the largest potential market in the world," said John Garrison, president and CEO of Bell Helicopter.
"According to the recent forecasts there is a projected need for as many as 2,000 helicopters in China."
Bell said he believes the country "can easily support" 2,000 helicopters in 10 years as the pace of airspace regulation reforms picks up.
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