A Gulfstream 450 is on display at the parking apron of the Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai for the first China Business and Private Jet Expo held on August 13. Photo: Mo Lingjiao

A three-day private jet exposition exclusive for China’s super-rich was held from August 13 to 15 at Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai, with two private jets, Gulstrem 450 and Diamond DA40, arriving at the parking apron of the airport on the first day of the event.

Featuring private jet aircrafts display, demonstration flights and exhibition pavilions, the China Business and Private Jet Expo, the first of its kind on the Chinese mainland, appeals many famous global private aviation service companies who are eager to get a foothold in China’s potentially massive high-end market. Even though China has yet to open airspace for private jets, this industry is becoming one of the biggest burgeoning markets.

The expo also draws concerns about China’s polluted air industry as the nation is on its way to advocating a low-carbon society and taking greater responsibilities in the global climate change issue.

Sun Gang, director of the tax policy research office of the Ministry of Finance told the Global Times that currently there are no full-fledged legal systems about environmental taxes in China, nor a tailor-made policy for the domestic aviation industry.

In China, passengers exempt from environmental duties seem to be a normal case in commercial flights. Thus, private aviation pollution becomes a legal vacuum where no related department is involved in.

In fact, few companies and buyers at the expo are aware of the private jets’ lion-share pollution and the high per capita emission.

“Compared to commercial passenger aircrafts, this (the number of private jets) is a very small fraction,” said Vasily Stupinskiy, a staff with Aerobridge, a company providing aviation consulting service in Georgia. And every aircraft, whether it’s commercial or private, contributes to pollution, he added.

“I’m not sure if the government has any policies to tax the private aviation industry with regards to its pollution,” said Li Long, sales manager of Shandong Bin Ao Aircraft Industries Co., Ltd. He is among most of the exhibitors who hardly care about the country’s tax system on private jets’ pollution.

Guests invited to the event include wealthy businessmen, successful corporation executives and organization procurement teams, whose net assets are estimated over 50 million yuan ($7.4 million).

“We are going to buy two business jets this time,” said Li Nonghe, Secretary General of the World Chinese Business Advancement Association. He showed his feelings of pride as Chinese are becoming richer to the point of owning jets.

But, unlike these potential jet buyers, Zhang Yue, CEO of Broad Air Conditioning Co. Ltd, has given up such a luxurious privilege.

He said one tree absorbs 18.3 kilograms of carbon dioxide every year; the carbon dioxide my business jet produces from a 3,000-kilometer trip between Changsha and Beijing equals to the amount absorbed by eight trees for 60 years.

“Since I’ve known these figures, taking trips on my jet belonged to a past,” said Zhang, who used to be a supporter of corporate jets, but his two jets have been left unused.

China’s luxury goods tax policy was set up in 1995 and was amended in 2006, where private jet is still not included as one of the 14 items.