China recently updated its latest five-year plan for general aviation, which covers the period ending Dec. 31, 2025 and aims to provide a “strong legal guarantee” for advancing civil aviation. In the announcement, the Civil Aviation Administration of China stated that it will promote the “respect, study, and abiding of the law” in the country’s civil aviation industry.
The plan sets a goal for 3,500 registered general aviation (GA) airplanes and 500 GA airports in China by the end of 2025. That compares with year-end 2020 when the country had 2,892 GA airplanes and 339 GA airports.
China's plan also calls for improvements to emergency rescue services. The goal is to have 25 or more provincial-level regions offer air rescue emergency services by the end of 2025.
Additionally, the plan supports the introduction of small, uncrewed aerial systems. Though it doesn't indicate how many China aims to have at the end of the five-year period, 517,000 drones were registered in the country at the end of 2020.