Over 200 new companies in China are seeking general aviation operating licenses, but the growing number of affluent Chinese means that more locals would want to fly their own jets.

Beijing unveiled the open skies policy in 2010 and is expected to issue detailed implementing guidelines by the end of the year. By 2020, the open skies policy would expand to airspace below 3,000 meters from the 1,000 meters next year.

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The other issue that this situation would need to address urgently is the insufficient number of pilot training schools, with only 12 existing ones that are so full of student pilots. Some foreign air service firms such as Rotor-Lift Aviation of Tasmania are entering into joint venture with their Chinese counterparts to establish a pilot school in Australia with Chinese students as its target market.

Meanwhile, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the country's largest jet manufacturer, has purchased a stake at a South African flying institution. Spanish firm Indra Sistemas and Canadian company CAE are teaching flight simulation and training courses in China.

China's Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) has its training unit, but it only enrolls 100 students a year. Sun Fengwei, deputy chief of the CAAC, said that more young Chinese want to learn how to fly for employment opportunities at general aviation companies. He added that the first batch of students who enrolled at the CAAC pilot school in 2010 own businesses and were interested in getting a private aviator's license.

The high salary of pilots has motivated students like Zong Rui, 28, a former soldier in the People's Liberation Army in Shandong Province, to borrow money to cover the cost of tuition of $81,750 (500,000 yuan). He reckoned that once he gets employed as a pilot, he could repay back the loan in two years, Reuters reports.

Boeing has a lower estimate of 98,000 pilots that China would need in the next 20 years, plus 101,000 maintenance technicians. Across the Asia Pacific region, Boeing estimates that for the same period, the region would need a total of 216,000 pilots and 224,000 maintenance personnel.

The 2014 Boeing Pilot and Technician Outlook report forecasts that until 2033, Asia Pacific would account for 39 percent of total global demand for new commercial airline technicians, higher than Europe and North American combined.

"The Asia Pacific region is seeing tremendous economic growth and is set to become the largest air travel market in the world," stated Boeing Flight Services Director of Customer Group Bob Bellitto.

Tagspilot shortage, pilot school, aviation boom