On May 17, the State Council issued a guideline on the development of the general aviation industry, in an effort to boost the strategic new industry that saw rapid growth in recent years.

Data shows that as of the end of 2015, China’s general aviation industry had more than 300 airports, 281enterprises, and 1,874 aircrafts.

As part of efforts to promote industry transformation and upgrades, and to further tap consumption potential, an initiative is set to build a general aviation industry that has more than 500 general aviation airports, 5,000 aircraft, and a group of competitive enterprises by the end of 2020, according to the guideline.

To strengthen transportation services, efforts will be made to provide diversified services. For example, people in rural areas will be offered small aircraft and short-haul aviation services.

The developing general aviation industry will also benefit public services and production as it will be combined with rescue and relief work, medical aid, territorial resource exploration, environment monitoring and communication relay.

To encourage aviation consumption, general aviation is encouraged to integrate with the Internet, creative economy, and tourism, the guideline said.

According to the guideline, regional coordination should be strengthened to promote construction of all-purpose airports in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and other major city clusters.

Efforts will be made to boost aviation innovation and improve manufacturing capabilities in key aviation technologies.

Industry cluster is another target to promote industry transformation and upgrades, as 50 demonstration zones will be set up to promote aviation clusters, and international-advanced general aviation manufacturing enterprises will be forged.

International cooperation will be strengthened in aviation manufacturing, operations management and pilot training.

To ensure aviation safety, an integrated and traceable monitoring system that involves different departments and sectors will be established. The civil aviation administration will be responsible for the construction of a general aviation safety monitoring platform that has real-time monitoring capability thanks to information technologies such as mobile Internet and big data.