At least 10 rich people in Shenzhen owned private jets, according to Avion Pacific Ltd., a Hong Kong-based private jet seller which has a corporate headquarters in Shenzhen.
The company, established in 1993, has sold 60 private jets on the mainland and 10 have been purchased by Shenzheners. But the company refused to reveal the identities of the jet owners.
"The prices for the private jets vary from 4 million yuan (US$608,800) to 150 million yuan, and we expect a booming market in private jet use after the Central Government and the military gradually open the low-altitude air space, Wu Zhendong, president of Avion Pacific, was quoted by Shenzhen Economic Daily as saying last week after a signing ceremony to establish the company s operational center in Xi an.
Due to strict restrictions on aviation, the number of private jets in China is small. Aviation experts said these conditions will change when business aircraft are accepted as travel means by Chinese executives.
Compared with the United States which has 230,000 general aviation aircraft, China only has a fleet of 1,000, so the market has great potential, according to Wu.
Avion Pacific is an authorized sales representative for Hawker and Beechcraft aircraft in China and exclusive sales representative for Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., sales agent for SHI, and distributor for MD Helicopters Inc.
Deer Jet Airlines, a business aviation company, opened China s first private plane base in Shenzhen in December last year. In 2010, an estimated 222 of its planes entered and left Shenzhen.
According to sources at Shenzhen airport, demand for private business flights soared in recent years.
(Han Ximin)
