Private plane sellers hope for scoop from Beijing Olympics
Updated: 2008-02-15 15:50
Chuck Woods, chief executive officer of Macao-based business flight operator Jet Asia, said 8 to 10 new airports were being added each year on the Chinese mainland, putting remarkable drive force behind the sector locally.
Some of the U.S.-based companies were already exploring the Chinese mainland market, including jet manufacturer Cessna, said Edward Bolen, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. National Business Aviation Association.
Europe-based industry giant Airbus, who was also trying to get a piece of cake of the Chinese market, was expecting 15 orders from the mainland and the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, said David Velupillai, marketing director of the company's executive and private aviation department.
Bolen said there has been changes to air space restrictions on the Chinese mainland in the recent five years, which were "like decades in the West."
The Olympics might help expose business flights in China and stimulate the growth of the local business aviation sector even after the games, he added.
Jay Mesinger said he expects people in China to gradually accept private plane ownership as a tool to help their business instead of no more than a luxury.
Conditions for the development of the business aviation sector on the Chinese mainland may be mature enough in 10 years, he said.
"But it won't wait for 10 years. It will start growing right now," he said.
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