China's private jet market expands
Management agents are providing the complete package in luxury travel as demand soars for private aircraft in China
From the clients' favourite bottle of Château Mouton Rothschild to their children's beloved blankets, Jenny Lau makes sure the private jet owners on her watch have all their needs met.
The in-flight butler duties are only a small part of the services Lau and her team at Sino Jet Management - the private jet management firm she founded in 2008 - provide. The firm covers the operational side of things, such as pilot recruiting, jet maintenance, applications for flight plans, routing requests and entry permits, while offering consultation on private jet purchasing and financing.
"We are very much like a commercial airline except the jets we operate are owned by our clients," says Lau, whose company manages more than 10 business jets, including the 14-seat Embraer Legacy 650 owned by action star Jackie Chan.
Private jet management agents such as Sino Jet Management are mushrooming in Hong Kong and on the mainland, hoping to tap the fast-growing Chinese business jet market. While infrastructure and policy makers are catching up to give private jets on the mainland the kind of flexibility that matches that of developed markets in Europe and North America, management agents seem to have taken off by offering complete services and total solutions.
Incentives are aplenty. To be qualified to fly, private jet owners need to go through a lengthy validation process of filing applications to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
"Current Chinese regulations require every private jet to be operated by a qualified operational manager," says Eric Wong, vice-chairman of NetJets China. The international firm manages more than 170 aircraft in the United States and launched branches in Hong Kong and on the mainland in June this year.
China's private jet sector is still a nascent industry in the booming economy. Regulations aside, the many hurdles undermining efficiency and flexibility for private fliers have increased their appetite for hiring managing agents.
"Many of our clients bought their own private jets so they could have more flexibility regarding where to fly to and when to fly," Lau says. "Jets are more than just something to show off their wealth - they are a key transportation means. Some of our clients wishing to buy their own jets don't know where to begin and that is where we come in."
Challenges facing today's private fliers include underdeveloped airport infrastructure - there are fewer than 200 civil airports compared to more than 5,200 in the US - high user fees - maintenance and operational costs can range from HK$8 million to HK$13 million per year - and a shortage of professionals such as pilots, mechanics and engineers.
