China's General Aircraft Fleet to Reach 45,000 by 2040: AVIC Forecast

Passengers step out of a China Southern Airlines aircraft at Dalian International Airport, Liaoning province, on July 15. [Photo by Liu Debin/For China Daily]

China's general aviation market is maintaining growth with the general aircraft fleet forecast to reach 45,000 by 2040, said the latest market outlook released by Aviation Industry Corporation of China Ltd (AVIC).

Among which, 10,000 will be civil helicopters and the others will be fixed-wing general aircraft, said the China Market Outlook for General Aircraft (2021-2040) released by the Aviation Industry Development Research Center of China under the AVIC, the country's leading aircraft maker.

Demands from pilot training, entertainment and low-altitude tourism will sustain the Chinese general aviation market to grow.

Light helicopter and ultralight helicopters are forecast to be the most popular market segments in the Chinese civil helicopter market, accounting for 76.9 percent of the country's civil helicopter fleet, said the AVIC market outlook.

General aviation business in the aerial emergency rescue, short-haul transport and low-altitude tourism domains will boom thanks to government support and market demand, according to the market outlook.

By 2040, the total flight hours of China's general aviation are forecast to exceed 8 million hours, the market outlook said.

In 2020, China's various general aircraft achieved a total of 984,000 flight hours.

By the end of 2020, China's in-service general aircraft fleet was 2,892 aircraft, among which 923 were civil helicopters.