China plans to approve more low-altitude flight zones, with five regions, including Beijing and Lanzhou, having submitted proposals, Shanghai Securities News reported Monday.
The State Council, China's cabinet, and the Central Military Commission last November jointly issued a policy report saying that China will strengthen the capacity of the Guangzhou and Shenyang low-altitude flight zones before 2011.Changchun and Guangzhou were the first cities getting approval to carry out low-altitude flight zone reform.
"The Air Force is doing research on the standards of the categories for low-altitude airspace, accessing criteria and regulations. It is expected the reform of low-altitude airspace regulations will come out at the national level next year, if everything goes smoothly," an unnamed source from the Air Force told the newspaper.
In the meantime, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has begun training sessions for general aviation industry. General aviation flights refer to all flights other than military and scheduled airline or regular cargo flights, private and commercial.
A temporary regulation to subsidize the general aviation industry is expected to take effect within this year. The subsidies will favor aviation enterprises that produce social benefits such as rescue flights, the newspaper reported.
China's civil aviation industry will attract investments totaling 1.5 trillion yuan ($230 million) in five years, according to the data of CAAC.
