Though the Chinese economy has cooled from a few years ago, the aviation industry here is starting to gain momentum, according to Briand Greer, Honeywell’s president of aerospace for Asia Pacific. “I think people will look back years from now and say this period of time right now is when things really took off,” he told AIN.
Greer noted several factors, primarily airspace and infrastructure, at play on the business and general aviation side that could be hindering growth in China. While many continue to wait for major changes in policy regarding airspace access, Greer is now taking a pragmatic view.
“It’s going to be little incremental things for quite some time until we get to the point where you can really operate business and general aviation aircraft here like you can in the West,” he said. “[The Chinese] approach is to do things in small steps, and I think there is a concern of doing something open, doing too much, and not being able to control the growth associated with that.” Once the airspace is opened, he sees no shortage of companies looking to step in and accelerate infrastructure development.
But there is also another hurdle the business aviation industry faces in China, similar to that in the U.S. in 2009 at the height of the global economic downturn when business aviation use had a perceived stigma attached. “One factor that is kind of playing against things right now and has had an effect on the number of business jets coming in is the [current] anti-extravagance campaign,” said Greer.
He noted that current attention is due to the perception business aviation has had since its inception in China. “Fortunately or unfortunately, the start of business aviation here was focused on luxury,” Greer said. “People that could buy a jet really kind of did it because it was to have some place to put their money and kind of show off their wealth, and that’s been the branding of business aviation in China to start with.”
Such impressions are slowly changing, he said, as companies in China begin to embrace the use of private aircraft. “I think you are starting to see this in some of the focus on medium and smaller-cabin aircraft sales–that it’s a utility tool and it makes a business more efficient for the people who are trying to conduct business and, if you put that in the context of the economy, what they are trying to do to keep it going and spur growth. I think that’s a very positive message.” He believes it is incumbent on the industry to communicate that message at venues such as ABACE.