SP’s Aviation - April 2018

Business AviAtion China

20 ISSUE 4 • 2018 http://www.sps-aviation.com

the dragon on

a shopping spree

Practical airplane purchases, hand-me-down jets and more, our Asian neighbour is setting

new business aviation trends

By ArpitA KAlA

While major global aviation operators are still

reeling from the flat fest that was the recently concluded Wings

India 2018, the upcoming ABACE Shanghai 2018 may just get

everyone’s spirits soaring to the skies. From military power

to business aviation or even the largest population, India and

China have long had a friendly (sometimes unfriendly too) com-

petition of sorts in a quest to be the best or the first in all. And,

the Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (ABACE)

is no different. Recovering from almost a decade long slump in

business aviation after a meteoric rise, the Eastern neighbour

seem to be all set to make up for lost time.

China is on a shopping spree

President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign in 2014 has

been attributed by many for the slump in Chinese Bizav. How-

ever, the Asia-Pacific region, especially China, still remains one

of the busiest markets for many business jet operators. Accord-

ing to a 2015 report by business aviation consultants Asian Sky

Group (ASG), mainland China remains the largest single mar-

ket in the Asia-Pacific region with 313 business jets with a net
increase of 13 business jets in the fleet in 2016.
Meanwhile, 2017 expansion plans for Boeing Business Jets
fleet in China included two BBJs, one BBJ 2 and one BBJ 787
entering service with two BBJ MAX 8s forecasted to be deliv-
ered in 2018. Business jet management company HK Bellaw-
ings welcomed the first Dassault Falcon 8X in Greater China
and a 7X in 2017. In fact, China is the second-largest market
for the Falcon 7X with 29 of the model currently in the country,
though it’s still a far cry from their boom days when there were
nearly forty 7Xs in China. Dassault’s head of global communi-
cations, Vadim Feldzer agrees, “In the past, Chinese custom-
ers didn’t really care about the cost, they just wanted the big-
gest jet with longest range and everything more, more, more...
there weren’t any rational procurement decisions. They prefer
to pay for expensive travel rather than have their MVPs stuck
in lounges in the middle of nowhere waiting for a connecting
flight. Chinese at the peak of the market in 2010 were looking
PhotograPhs: aBa for the most expensive jet in the world.”

CE