ChinaDaily
Updated: Mar 29,
2011
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A flight attendant in an Airbus A318 Elite business
jet on display at the Business Aviation Center during the Asian Aerospace
International Expo and Congress in Hong Kong on March 9. [Photo / Bloomberg]
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Airbus Expects 25 Orders for
Corporate Aircraft over Five Years
BEIJING -
With its steaming economy and surging ranks of billionaires, China has
become the fastest-growing market for Airbus' private jet business, with at
least 25 corporate jets to be sold in the next five years.
"The demand
for corporate jets is already very high, and the government is more supportive
of corporate aviation," Francois Chazelle, vice-president of worldwide
sales at Europe's Airbus Corporate Jets, said
at a news conference on Monday.
Eric Chen, senior
vice-president of Airbus China, added: "Five aircraft a year is a
conservative figure. We have already sold two in the first quarter of this year
in China."
Airbus reached a
record high in private jet sales last year, delivering 15 aircraft worth $1.5 billion.
Airbus has sold 20 aircraft in China
since 2005, accounting for about 25 percent of its business jet sales.
There are
currently six Airbus business jets in operation in China, with another two set to
begin flying soon, Chazelle said.
Chinese civil
aviation is expected to grow 11 percent annually between 2011 and 2015,
requiring a total of 1,100 aircraft. The nation's private aviation increased by
400 percent in 2010 over 2009, said Li Xiaojin, a professor at the Civil
Aviation University of China.
More than 100
business jets are in operation in the country now, according to statistics from
Firestone Management Group's released in January.
The increase in
the number of business jets is a result of the booming Chinese economy, which
by 2009 was home to about 875,000 millionaires and 1,363 billionaires,
according to the Hurun Rich List, the Chinese equivalent of the Forbes list.
Airbus' flying
office for the ultra-rich is mainly aimed at large corporations and individual
entrepreneurs and hopes to lure more government customers in the future,
Chazelle said.
Despite the
difficulties of private aviation in China such as air traffic control,
the corporate jet business has gained sudden attention from global plane makers
since 2010.
Canada's Bombardier forecast the industry will make 600
business jet deliveries in China
between 2010 and 2019, while US-based Gulfstream and French business jet maker
Dassault Falcon are also boosting their presence on the Chinese mainland,
according to Agence France-Presse. US
plane maker Boeing is introducing its own private jets in China on Thursday in Beijing.
Also on Monday,
Airbus announced it has appointed Taikoo (Xiamen)
Aircraft Engineering Company Ltd as its first approved cabin-outfitter in the
Asia-Pacific region, expanding its finishing centers.
"We are
shifting our marketing focus to China
and Asia, setting up sales offices in Hong Kong and Beijing," Chen said. "As more and
more business leaders become aware of the benefits of traveling in their own
aircraft, there will be a domino effect."
