CHINA is to further open up low-altitude airspace to private planes next year with communications and surveillance facilities already built to ensure flight safety.
The announcement was made by Ma Xin, an official with the state air traffic control commission, at the Zhuhai airshow.
Communications and surveillance facilities aimed at ensuring low-altitude flight safety have been constructed in Changchun and Guangzhou and on Hainan Island, Ma said, and there are maintenance stations in Shenyang, Shenzhen, Hainan and Zhuhai.
New regulations on airspace planning and operations as well as applications for flights are expected to be issued before the end of the year.
"As the reforms forge ahead, we believe the general aviation industry will gain momentum and become a new growth point just like the car industry," Ma said.
Trial projects have been launched in China's northeastern and southern regions, as well as in seven cities - Tangshan near Beijing, Xi'an, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Kunming and Chongqing, where airspace below 1,000 meters is open to general flights.
China's general aviation industry, as well as the purchase and use of private planes, has been impeded by restrictions on airspace use.
In November 2010, China decided to open up part of the country's low-altitude airspace for the first time.
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