China will build Asia's biggest business jet delivery and exhibition center in Shanxi Province to help potential buyers go on test flights, the annual Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition heard yesterday.

Covering 20 square kilometers in the province's Jiangxian County, the 7.8 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) center will display business jets from global manufacturers. Customers will also be able to take test flights on the planes they want to buy or rent.

The center will be sited in an aviation industrial zone which will include a factory to make around 500 business jets annually and a training center for pilots. The zone could create some 5,000 job openings with annual production valued at 12 billion yuan, said Wei Lingke, board chairman and president of World Aviation Elites Investment Co, the operator of the center.

Wei estimated the country's general aviation market to grow 20 percent annually with the setup of the center.

The National Business Aviation Association, the exhibition organizer, also signed an agreement with the Shanghai Airport Authority to extend the contract for the annual event for another five years to 2020.