While the OEMs are seeing slowdowns in the pace of aircraft orders from China, management services for those business jets that are here are still in demand, according to Hong Kong Jet. The Hainan Group subsidiary added five new aircraft to its operating certificate over the past year. “We’ve grown in the last few years from eight aircraft to 18,” noted COO Denzil White. The company’s aircraft roster includes large-cabin jets such as the Gulfstream G650 and G550, Bombardier Global, Dassault Falcon 7X, as well as bizliners such as the BBJ and ACJ.

The growth is a welcome reversal from the company’s earlier history when it miscalculated the market, according to White. “The formula they were applying revolved around a sort of jet-club scenario,” he noted. “The market was a little too immature for that.” White described the problem as an “intrinsic difficulty” in the culture of local jet owners to share their aircraft.

Another flaw in the earlier concept was in the available infrastructure. “If you are looking at an area that is heavily populated in terms of aircraft then its easy enough to always have an airplane somewhere a customer wants it, but if you are looking at an area as big as China and you are trying to do fractional ownership, it becomes a big problem.”

He noted that the difference in business jet concentrations between the U.S. (approximately 12,000) and China (around 400), with the latter having much more geographic space. “Somebody in Beijing will want their aircraft, it will be parked in Zhuhai and you’ve got a three or four hour flight to pick them up. It just costs too much,” White told AIN. “The infrastructure is not really in place yet for jet sharing, but it will come.”

The company is looking towards possible expansion in the Asia Pacific region, he said, but not within China, where sister company Deer Jet operates the largest private jet fleet in all of Asia. “For us, we look more to the international side outside China,” White noted, adding that Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan and even Australia remain possible areas of interest in establishing additional air operator certificates.