Hong Kong-based business aviation consultancy Asian Sky Group (ASG) is burnishing its credentials at ABACE 2015 for expertise in regional operations with its new report on Asia’s fixed-wing fleet. This follows the March release at Heli-Expo in the U.S. of its first report on the region’s helicopter fleet. The research reports bolster the company’s contention that “We have offerings that can help every segment of the industry,” said Jeffrey Lowe, ASG’s managing director.

In previous fixed-wing reports, ASG confined its data to Greater China, but this year it’s adding the entire Asia Pacific region to the survey. Meanwhile, the recently released helicopter report finds growing strength in the Chinese market, with the People’s Republic forecast to overtake Japan and become the dominant rotorcraft operator in the Asia Pacific region within the next year.

At the end of 2014, Japan’s civil fleet stood at 800 rotorcraft, while China’s numbered 655. But China’s growth rate was 29 percent in 2014, the highest in Asia, enough to overtake Japan with its projected 3 percent annual growth rate over the next 12 months. “We expect the number of rotorcraft in China to exceed 800 by the end of 2015,” said Lowe. “We have seen and expect to see future relaxation of control in China, opening the airspace to civil aviation, which will allow for further growth.”

The ASG report finds last year’s growth in China has been fueled primarily by demand for light, entry-level helicopters used for flight training and multi-mission activity, while in 2013 growth came in the form of rotorcraft that support offshore oil & gas operations.

ASG’s anticipated fixed-wing report will likely contain less rosy data. After five years of about 20 percent annual growth, activity in 2014 was “fairly muted, with the new government’s austerity platform and crackdown on corruption,” Lowe said. “It has certainly cooled off the market for business aviation.” He’s quick to add that it’s not that business aviation users are corrupt, “but given the political environment, they ask, ‘Do I want the scrutiny that’s going to come by buying myself a business jet?’” – especially since many of the corporate leaders whose companies can afford these assets have relationships with the central government.

The government’s campaigns have put a large dent in charter activity as well, Lowe said, with some operators putting aircraft formerly devoted to charter on short-term leases. Operators that have cultivated private clientele have fared better than those relying more on government charter business. “I can say that, slowly, government charter is trickling back, but it will be a long time before it’s anywhere near what it was before,” Lowe said. However, there’s an upside for potential charter customers: “It’s a buyer’s market at the moment,” he said, with some operators offering rates so low, “we look at the numbers and say, ‘I don’t know how they’re making money.’”

But another form of cheap “charter” plagues the industry, Lowe said: So-called “gray market” charter, with business aircraft owners letting friends or acquaintances rent their airplanes for flights. Private owners don’t have to meet the same operating standards that are imposed on companies that provide charter services for hire, so gray market charter subjects travelers to lower safety standards while depriving legitimate operators of revenue needed to pay for the enhanced services they offer. “At some time the CAAC [Civil Aviation Administration of China] will have to step in [and try to stop the illegal activity],” Lowe said.

Meanwhile, inquiries from clients and potential clients, ranging from first-time buyers seeking advice on a business jet purchase to Fortune 500 companies “trying to figure out the best solution” for deploying aircraft in the region, indicate underlying demand for business aviation services remains strong. And the government’s long-term view of business aviation remains positive, Lowe said.

“The central government very much understands the value business aviation brings,” said Lowe. “In the most recent five-year plan, the government is trying to push domestic corporations [to do more business] overseas, and to do that, you need the right tools, and in a lot of cases that means business aircraft.” Lowe also pointed to the government’s easing of airspace restrictions, its ceding of authority for flight plan approvals to local governments, and encouragement of flight schools as signs of China’s commitment to general and business aviation. Here at the show, company representatives are eager to meet attendees who want to learn how they can make the most of business aviation in the region.

Owned by Seacor Holdings, a U.S.-based publicly traded company, ASG has some 20 employees, and maintains partnerships with global aircraft broker Avpro and AVIC International Development Corporation, China’s largest state-owned aviation enterprise.