The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) Tuesday issued its plan to boost the general aviation industry, but without enough airports, the fledgling sector will still struggle to take wing.
The landing and parking fee for general aviation aircraft at civil airports will be cut by 40 and 50 percent beginning September 1, in a "move to improve general aviation operation market and support its develop-ment," said a statement on the CAAC website.
According to the statement, the benchmark price of landing is 120 yuan ($17.7) per flight, and 100 yuan ($14.7) for 24-hour parking per flight.
General aviation refers to all civil aviation activities except scheduled passenger flights and mainly covers emergency rescue, cultural and sports activities, ocean and environment exploration and business flights.
Insiders said, however, the fee reduction will have little effect on the general aviation market development due to a lack of airports.
"The landing fee is okay even as it is. The point is that 90 percent of civil airports refuse our landing,"an anonymous instructor from a pilot training organization in Shandong Province told the Global Times Wednesday. "There just aren't enough airports."
China is supposed to have eight new airports in addition to the 166 certified ones in operation at the end of this year, and the number will reach 244 civilian airports across the nation within a decade.
"Currently, general aviation aircraft still share the same civil airports with other flights, which makes it hard for general aviation aircraft to find a place," echoed Li Yike, a senior consultant from Singapore-based Kent Ridge Consulting, adding that limited air space also hampers the development of general aviation market.
Currently, China has less than 1,000 general aviation aircraft, compared with more than 250,000 in the US.
CAAC predicted that the nation will have more than 10,000 general aviation aircraft by 2020.
