Clear skies ahead for aviation industry

A pilot with Ruohang Transportation Development Co flies a helicopter.

 

Lu Yong, chairman of Ruohang Transportation Development Co, said he is confident the aviation industry will continue to expand in China despite obstacles that obstruct its path.

His general aviation company has been operating in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, since August.

In less than two months, about 40 people have applied to receive flight training there.

"The advanced economy in the Yangtze River Delta, which includes Shanghai, as well as Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, provided the original impetus for setting up the company in Nanjing," Lu said.

When Chinese people think about what sort of person is likely to try to obtain a pilot's license and an aircraft, many of them picture an ostentatious and successful businessman. Lu said the reality is vastly different.

"People's main reason for obtaining a license at our flight school is to find a well-paying job at an airline or in private aviation, although we have enrolled some successful business people who fly just as a hobby."

To obtain a private license to fly a helicopter in China, would-be pilots must undergo 40 hours of training and pay about 250,000 yuan ($39,600). If they then want to go farther and get a license for commercial purposes, they must submit to another 110 hours of instruction.

"It's expensive for many people," Lu said. "The cost can be greater than 5,000 yuan an hour."

Also driving the price up are rules limiting when aircraft can fly in China, Lu said.

"In the United States, a general aviation aircraft flies between 600 and 800 hours a year on average," Lu said. "In China, it's only 100 hours. Since aircrafts are used less often here, the cost of using them for an hour is much higher."

Only about 1,000 people in China now have a license to fly a helicopter. In Nanjing, a city of 8 million, the number of people with private flying license is a mere five.

And even those who can afford the necessary training have slim chances of obtaining a license if their health is not good.

On a recent day, four people registered to study in Ruohang's flight school. But only two of them passed a mandatory health examination.

"To guarantee the safety of flyers and passengers, strict health checks must be carried out," Lu said.

More than 10 general aviation companies now offer the type of training people must undergo if they want to obtain a private flying license in China. Of those, half are qualified to provide the training needed for a commercial license.

Entrepreneurs seem to think the demand for those services will only increase. More than 100 companies are waiting for China's aviation management departments to approve their requests to enter the general aviation market.

In 2010, a Shanghai general aviation company opened flight schools near Qiandao Lake in Zhejiang province. As a special service, it said it would even take its training sessions to the homes of businessmen who lead hectic lives.

Huaxi village in Jiangyin, a city in Jiangsu province, established a general aviation company in July. The business has since spent more than 100 million yuan to purchase two helicopters and construct a general aviation airport.

Another flight school has also been opened in Huai'an, a Jiangsu province city that is about 200 kilometers away from Nanjing.

Lu said the industry will not see much fierce competition in the next three to five years, even though many companies have swarmed into it.

"China's general aviation industry is in its initial stage. Every company is in charge of a region and no one has acquired a large market share."

People who want to fly in Chinese airspace and have a pilot's license and an aircraft have only started on their way to their goal. To reach it, they also must obtain a document certifying the safety of the particular vehicle they plan to fly and similar documents.

They also must obtain an approval of their flight routes.

The requirements are cumbersome, so much so that some people don't bother with trying to comply with them.

"As far as I know, there are as many unregistered general aviation aircrafts as there are registered ones in the Yangtze River Delta," Lu said.

The Shanghai-based magazine Xinmin Weekly has reported that billionaires had started to fly in Zhejiang province as early as 2010 without certificates.

Zhu Songbin, a Zhejiang millionaire who owns 10 aircrafts, is among the many people who don't have the certificates they need to fly but do it anyway.

"Spending 2 million yuan to buy an aircraft means nothing to many businesspeople, but the approval process is too much of an annoyance," said Zhu. "It's no longer a secret in the industry that people fly without licenses."

Also perhaps making people more willing to break the rules are the relatively meager penalties that are imposed on those who fly without licenses.

According to China's Civil Aviation Law, violators of the certificate requirements face fines of between 10,000 and 100,000 yuan.

Unlike Zhu, many wealthy people in China generally have little interest in purchasing their own aircraft and pilot's licenses.

Lu said there are only about 600 registered general aviation aircraft in China. He said the general aviation industry remains stunted despite the country's rapid economic growth.

Gao Yuanyang, director of the research center for the general aviation industry under the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said China needs at least three to five years to prepare itself for the industry's rapid development.

"The industry is connected very closely with policies and technologies," Gao said. "What China lacks now is not capital but airspace, talent and infrastructure resources."

A large part of Chinese airspace is closed to civil traffic.

Lu cited three obstacles to the industry's development.

"People in China are not used to traveling by general aviation," Lu said. "That's just not part of the culture here. Besides that, there is very little supportive infrastructure, including general aviation airports and maintenance centers, in the country."

He said requirements stipulate that aircraft be checked both before taking off and after landing. The country now lacks the operations it needs to fuel, inspect and repair aircraft.

"The US has more than 500 airports for civil aviation and 5,000 for general aviation, but China only has 200 for civil purposes and fewer than 100 for general use."

"The airspace management authorities should also move faster to open up low-altitude space, which is extremely important to the development of China's general aviation industry," Lu said.

He said too many departments in both the government and the army are trying to guide the reforms.

In 2010, the country announced plans to have low-altitude airspace opened to the industry by 2015. And an administrative regulation concerning general aviation was put forward in 2003.

"But the regulation, which is under revision now, is no longer applicable," Lu said. "The country's national aviation law is still under consideration. Cooperation and compromise must take place if they want to make any progress."

Lu said his company may look at making general aviation aircraft. His company's business now concerns first aid, air tourism and aviation leasing.

He said the number of civil helicopters in China will increase by 25 percent a year in the next five years. By 2020, there will be 2,100 of the vehicles in the country.

"China's general aviation industry now has about 4 billion yuan in profits a year, which is less than 1 percent of the US industry's. China's general aviation industry needs to improve in many ways. If investors want to enter this industry, they should be patient and give up their expectation that they will be making profits in several years."

"The industry has some big opportunities as well as some big obstacles," said Lu. "If the impediments can be removed, a bright future awaits all of these ambitious companies."

Contact the writers at cangwei@chinadaily.com.cn and songwenwei@chinadaily.com.cn