Asia's business aviation is growing at about 15% a year, Asian Business Aviation Association (AsBAA) chief David Best told a briefing session at EBACE today, but growth is threatened by a lack of support.
Provision of flight training and maintenance, repair and overhaul is failing to keep up with fleet expansion, he says, and most airports lack understanding and expertise in meeting the needs of business aviation users.
Best estimates the AsBAA fleet - about 1,000 aircraft of which 60-70% are large cabin, very large cabin, or corporate jetliners - will equal Europe's by 2020.
Karan Singh, vice-president of the Business Aviation Association for India, told the session the explosive 26% growth of a few years ago has slowed to about 5%, but infrastructure and support services are struggling to cope even with that.
Singh says a "change of mindset" at government level towards business aviation is needed, but he is reasonably optimistic that this is possible.
Source: Flight Daily News
