Despite the infrastructural and policy barriers inhibiting development of business aviation, there is almost unlimited potential to sell business jets in China.

But there are notable differences between the Chinese and Western systems and some weak points operators need to know before heading to the PRC. “First,” Kuehnl pointed out, “they operate in metric. In terms of altimetry, usually everything is QNH at the big places, but they will default to QFE at the more remote locations. It should be standardized, as it would make life easier, since you would know what to expect. In terms of flight planning, they like you to follow airways; there are very few direct routings.

“If we knew what we were doing, we wouldn’t call it research, would we?” — Albert Einstein Vicki Cox, senior vice president and supervisor of the FAA’s NextGen program, likes to cite the iconic physicist’s famous quote when discussing the challenges implicit in bringing her agency’s ambitious ATC automation plan to reality.