Friendlier Skies: China to Free Up Airspace, Build More Small Airports

(WSJ) China aims to open up its lower-level airspace and boost infrastructure for small civil aircraft over the next five years, as part of a new plan to grow general aviation into a 1 trillion-yuan ($153 billion) industry.

Under guidelines published late Tuesday, Beijing aims to grow the number of small airports to more than 500 by 2020, up from more than 300 now. Its fleet of general-aviation aircraft, including small planes and helicopters, is pegged to grow beyond 5,000 over the same period, in what would be a nearly threefold increase.

The government will also free up some airspace for general-aviation fliers, a significant move in a country where the military has long controlled the skies. Flight-approval processes will be streamlined and civil aircraft will be able to operate in airspace below 3,000 meters, compared to 1,000 meters currently, the State Council—China's cabinet—said in the guidelines.

"China's general-aviation sector remains small, infrastructure development is still relatively laggard, and progress in reforms to low-altitude airspace management is slow," the State Council said. This leaves a "rather large gap" between industry capacity and China's rising air-travel demand, as well as its economic and social development needs, it added.

Efforts to boost general aviation, officials say, would boost China's economic development and tourism, improve rescue and disaster-relief capabilities, and help train more pilots to meet rising air-travel demand.

Tuesday's guidelines come after China this month announced plans to spend 77 billion yuan ($11.8 billion) on developing aviation infrastructure this year. The funds would go toward new and existing projects in major cities across the country, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

As of the end of 2015, China had a nationwide fleet of 1,874 general-aviation aircraft, served by more than 300 general-aviation airports. They accounted for some 730,000 hours of flight time last year, and the government hopes this figure will rise to 2 million by 2020.

The U.S., in comparison, has more than 268,000 general-aviation aircraft, served by more than 20,000 landing facilities, according to government and industry estimates.

Source: Wall Street Journal 

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