The Fast Economic Growth in China Will Favor the Development of Commercial and General Aviation

This chapter is aimed at illustrating the potentialities of General Aviation (GA) in China in consideration of a gradual opening of the sky which is now controlled in great part by the Chinese military and basically because the airspace classification system does not treat GA air activities separately. For this reason there is a need to update the legal framework regulating GA in China in consideration of the benefits this sector can bring to the Middle Kingdom which include a further expansion of its internal economy. Today China, notwithstanding the damages caused by COVID-19, represents the world’s second largest aviation market and it is projected to soon become the largest if we take into consideration the fastest recovery pace in comparison with the rest of the world and the fact that China is adopting new policies to favor the development of sectors, like aviation, and in particular GA. However, in order to allow Chinese aviation to fully express its potentiality there are three critical components which need the attention of the Chinese policymakers, which include the infrastructures (airports), the development of airlines, and enhancement of air traffic management. These three components are developing at different pace thus limiting the efforts of China to accommodate the grooving market demand for air travel. The interaction of these three components with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is of paramount importance to combine the rapidly expanding ground aviation infrastructure and a highly constrained airspace amid increasing demand for air travel. The CAAC is the authority in charge of the regulatory framework regulating aviation which has to follow the directives and priorities of the central government.