Aircraft parked at the the Asia Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition in Shanghai earlier this month. Gao erqiang / China Daily

Rival operators compete for their share of a market which experts say is set to soar

When Ji Xingzhuo first launched his business jet operation, in Hong Kong in 2006, China had only about 20 business aircraft in total.

By 2012, the number in the Chinese mainland had risen to 187 - the most in the Asia and Pacific region - with Ji's company operating 17 of them.

Now the chairman of Air Taxi (Hong Kong) Business Jet Co Ltd, Ji has witnesse d, first hand, the boom in China's business aviation market, particularly since 2008.

His company flies jets between the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and some foreign cities in Southeast Asia.

"My clients are mainly high-end tourist companies and they use the jets to transport their customers," he said.

Statistics from JetNet LLC, the air industry market research firm based in the US, show that China's business aircraft fleet increased 103 percent in the decade to 2012.

The secto r has outperformed the growth of the general civil aviation industry in China, which experienced a 28 percent rise in 2011, according to Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The number of business jet operators is also growing fast.

Three big players have dominated the business aviation market since 2003, but all have experienced mixed fortunes during the years.

More general aviation enterprises have also shifted their attention to the business end of the market.

There were 15 business jet operators in China in 2012 and 41 enterprises were preparing to launch operations, according to the CAA C, with many operators reporting that the economic slowdown has done little to dampen enthusiasm to enter the fray.

"Our aircraft are flying over 70 hours monthly and the business has been largely unaffected by the recession," said Wang Chenglong, regional sales manager at Hanhua Airlines, a business jet operator based out of Dalian, in Liaoning province.

Hanhua, which made its first business flight in July 2012, has two Bombardier Challenger 300 aircraft and about 70 percent of its clients are private entrepreneurs.

Donghai Jet Co Ltd, based in Shenzhen, in the south of Southern China's Guangdong province, runs six business jets and each of those are in the air for around 10 hours a week, said Zhou Xiaoxiao, the deputy manager of its marketing department.

Zhou said its clients are mainly private-owned energy businesses.

Hanhua and Donghai say they are both optimistic about prospects for the business aviation market.

Deer Jet Co Ltd, a subsidiary of air transportation , real estate, retailing , financial solutions, and tourism conglomerate HNA Group, is considered the largest business jet operator in China with 55 aircraft.

It is forecasting that China's business jet fleet will be over 500-strong by 2015, although officials admit the slowdown has had some affect on its levels of business.

"The potential demand for business jets is huge and the market will develop fast, when the economy improves," Deer said in a statement.

However, it has been far from clear blue skies for the some in the sector.

The government's strict regulations to fight corruption and encourage frugality is expected to hit some operators hard, especially those flying in and out of Beijing .

"Our business departures from Beijing have dropped by over 20 percent since the regulations were released in late 2012," said one business jet operator, who refused to be identified.

In response to the austerity measures, not just government officials and those from State-owned companies have cut back on extravagant travel, even some private-owned companies have scaled back their business jet reservations, he added.