The Development of General Aviation Industry…

The Development of General Aviation Industry and the Creation of an International Aviation Metropolis

ASA News Zheng Zhou, Henan, China August 19th, 2014

Mao Wang, Deputy Director of Henan Province Sports Bureau, leader of Aviation Sports Management Center, made the following analysis on the subject of general aviation and aerospace development:

Since 2011, the State Council has issued opinions on reforming China’s Low-Altitude Airspace, promoting the Development of the Civil Aviation Industry” and other policy documents to vigorously guide China’s aviation industry. The overall strategy for Zhongyuan, Henan is to create an international aviation metropolis by comprehensively developing the general aviation industry.

This region, nationwide, is the most convenient transportation hub. In addition to being the transit hub for the nations land traffic, it also has the potential to develop into an enormous aviation powerhouse as a short 1.5 hour flight from Zhongyuan can take a passenger to two-thirds of Chinas major cities and most of nations high-tech areas. The goal is to create a national general aviation network and also an emergency rescue system in this region; the fulcrum effect is obvious.

Henan has excellent resources. Anyang City’s Aviation Sports School is the only school directly under the supervision of the National Sport Bureau, and it is not just a cradle of pilot training, but also the largest aviation sports club in China. For years, the government of Anyang City has been concentrating a lot of manpower and resources into the general aviation development, and not just in urban transformation, but also by hosting six major international aviation shows. In the capital city of Zhengzhou, the leader of municipal government promoted the development of general aviation and aviation sports drastically, with the officially approved “Experimental Master Plan of Zhengzhou Universal Aviation”. The economic scale of Zhengzhou’s general aviation is expected to be over one thousand billion dollars in 2020.

The Chinese Government put out guidance on supporting and accelerating the construction of Henan Zhongyuan Economic Zone”, he pointed out that the city should accelerate the general aviation industry in both research, planning and construction of numerous general aviation airports. The “Zhengzhou Aviation Comprehensive Experimental Development Plan of Economic Zone” also made it clear that in order to support aviation development it is to establish a relatively complete low-altitude airspace management as well as improving services and general air safety systems. Aligning policies from national to the local level will also enhance the development of the aviation industry. The construction of a large hub, developing advanced logistics, cultivating large industry, and shaping the growth of the city and its surrounding areas is important to Zhengzhou. The development of general aviation is the main pillar in building an international integrated transportation hub in the region.

Based on unique geographical and government-friendly advantages, Zhengzhou City has therefore launched a special pilot area for the purpose of attracting international and local investment. Up until now, there were 26 general aviation companies interested in land investment; recently Pine Valley Group and Tianjin Tianyu Aviation Leasing Company have signed a cooperation agreement with the experimental area project. Other investments included 10 billion dollars for aviation tourism projects and emergency aircraft, 6 billion dollars for the Apollo light-weight aircraft assembly project, 3 billion dollars for rotorcraft production.

Looking forward to 2020, the experimental regions should reach the goal of 20 companies and 1 billion annual mile flight hours with 200 aircraft serving the airport, to achieve an industry of over one hundred billion dollars in value.