China is moving to embrace business aviation more quickly than Japan, according to Dominik Steiner, president of start-up aircraft management firm Newjetco. However, this has not discouraged the former TAG Aviation manager from establishing the business in Japan with the intention of boosting business aircraft use by Japanese firms and individuals. The company also has offices in Bern, Switzerland, and Moscow.

Newjetco plans to create management cells of three to four people dedicated exclusively to supporting each client’s aircraft. The company is now in discussions with two Japanese banks with a view to offering finance packages to prospective new aircraft owners.

Steiner acknowledged that many existing Japanese owners register aircraft in the U.S., basing them in Pacific locations such as Guam. He said that it is hard to find corporate pilots in Japan and difficult for expatriate foreign pilots to get their licenses validated in the country.

At the same time, he predicted that access to Tokyo will eventually improve with increased capacity at Haneda Airport (which is due to get a fourth runway). He also added that Japanese military airports might be made available to business aircraft to ease the country’s capacity squeeze for this type of traffic.