Since nearly all civil airports exist to support airline service, only a handful have FBOs, Hong Kong Aviation Group’s Buchholz reminded readers. “Accordingly, make arrangements with your handler for ground transportation and CIQ,” he said. “Understand that you may have to queue up with the airline passengers for immigration clearance. The Chinese are getting used to business aviation, but they do not have many FBOs. Pilots will therefore be busier and should be able to think on their feet to deal with last-minute changes. Security is generally good.”

To Brad Perrett, Aviation Week & Space Technology’s Asia-Pacific bureau chief based in Beijing, “It all comes down to opening up the airspace.” He pointed out that, “The whole country is a military zone with airways carved out within it. The airspace belongs to the military, but that is changing. It used to take days to get a clearance to operate. Now it takes only 12 hours to get one, if there is space on the airways.”