Aviation industry still waiting to take off

Better infrastructure and more professionals are needed to boost the general aviation industry, experts said.

"China's general aviation industry is still in its infancy, with only up to 80 airports dedicated to serving general aviation flights and 286 temporary takeoff and landing sites," said Wu Tongshui, president of Civil Aviation University of China.

The United States, which operates more than 300,000 general aviation aircraft, has at least 24,000 airports and landing points that can serve these aircraft.

Some general aviation airports in China don't even have aviation gasoline, which is usually consumed by small aircraft using piston engines, forcing pilots to carry their own onboard, according to Wu Guanghui, deputy general manager of Commercial Aircraft Corp of China.

"Without a sufficient and reliable infrastructure, the industry cannot grow big," he said. "No one would buy a car if there were no roads."

By the end of next year, China will have at least 2,000 general aviation aircraft, but there will not be enough pilots, said Chen Bin, a researcher with the Sino-US joint venture Easyfly Aviation.

The industry will be short more than 3,000 pilots within the coming five years, while operation, ground service and technical maintenance personnel are also in great shortage, Chen said.

Most of the pilots graduating from Chinese flight academies will join commercial airlines rather than general aviation companies, he said.

China had 1,654 general aviation aircraft last year, a ratio of 1.3 aircraft for every 1 million people. The level in Brazil is 12 times higher and the US is 100 times higher, Wu said.