Zhejiang businessman Wang Bin had it all worked out when he decided to buy a helicopter from France last December. It would relieve him of the tedium of a six-hour drive from his building materials company in Yiwu city to factories in Shaowu, in neighbouring Fujian province. It would also impress clients and help win more contracts if he offered them a whirl. And when not in use, he could charter it out to make extra money.
Wang forked out 12 million yuan for his Eurocopter EC120B, 6 million yuan for related equipment and another 2 million yuan for maintenance and operating fees. But the helicopter turned out to be a white elephant. It was used fewer than 20 hours during the past eight months, and never flew outside Zhejiang province. Most of the time, the helicopter was parked at an airfield in Dongyang city, the nearest approved site, about two hours' drive from his head office. 'It's too hard to get a flying permit, especially to fly in a different province,' he says.
The businessman is so fed up he advertised in the Zhejiang Daily last month to sell it, but has yet to find a buyer. The adverse publicity surrounding his purchase was another reason to sell the helicopter. '[The media reports] made it sound like I was showing off,' Wang says. 'People were talking about how rich I was and turning to me for help. It's a lot of pressure.'
Wang's woes are typical among the few owners of private aircraft on the mainland. Although there are a growing number of people in the country who can afford to have their own aircraft, tight control of airspace and inadequate airport facilities are hampering the development of private aviation.
According to official statistics, the mainland had fewer than 70 private or corporate aircraft in 2005, while Brazil, whose GDP is half that of China's, has more than 700. The US has about 200,000 private jets, the largest number in the world. 'The problem of developing the private jet industry in China lies more in the policy than the funding,' says He Chi, vice-president of Beijing Jingong Flying Club.
Military control over all airspace on the mainland makes for a lot of red tape. For a private jet to secure a landing slot at a civil airport within a flight area that may encompass three or four adjoining provinces, the pilot must submit a flight plan 24 hours in advance. That compares with a couple of hours in the US or Europe. To land at an airport in a different flight area, the plan must be submitted anywhere from a few days to a week in advance, He says. Before the Regulations for General Aviation Control came into effect in May 2003, pilots had to apply at least 10 days ahead for the right to fly between two civil airports.