Han Ximin, Wu Chenzhao
DEER Jet FBO, the only private plane base in China, will open Dec. 21, Shenzhen airport said yesterday, quoting Deer Jet Airlines, a business aviation company.
The base, formerly a helicopter terminal, is located between the airport s Terminal B and Shenzhen Airport Logistics Park.
According to the airport, the demand for private business flights has soared in recent years. The number of private planes entering and leaving Shenzhen this year came to 222, an increase of 68.2 percent compared with 2009.
Besides Deer Jet, a subsidiary of Hainan Airlines, six airlines including Beijing Trans-Asia Handling Co., Shanghai Foreign Aviation Service Corp. and Hong Kong-based Asia United Business Aviation will open private jet services in Shenzhen.
An FBO, or fixed base operator, is the primary provider of services to general aviation aircraft. FBO businesses offer aircraft refueling, parking, flight training, aircraft rental, hangar storage and other services.
Deer Jet said it planned to grow its business aircraft fleet from 23 to 35 by the end of the year to take advantage of China s fast-growing commercial business aviation market. Assistant President Zhao Hui said the company s operating revenue increased 21 percent in 2008 followed by 32 percent growth in 2009.
We expect our revenue will jump 60 percent this year, he said, adding it was noteworthy that domestic clients made up 80 percent of the company s clients.
Private planes are becoming increasingly popular among China s rich. According to the Hurun 2010 wealth list, China now has 2,000 billionaires, one sixth of whom plan to buy private aircraft.
Seeing the market potential for private jets, Air China, Shanghai Airlines, Shandong Airlines and China Eastern Airlines have opened private flight services.
But aviation experts in China believe that the conditions are changing and that business aircraft are becoming an acceptable means for Chinese executives to travel the vast country. It is estimated that China will need 300-600 business jets in the next 10 years. Due to strict restrictions on aviation in China, the number of private jets in China remains very small.
