Officials from the Shanghai Airport Authority and Australia's Hawker Pacific break ground for the 80-million-yuan (US$11.6 million) Hongqiao Airport Business Aviation Center, which will serve privately owned aircraft.

Business people and entertainment stars who own their own airplanes will be able to fly in and out of China's first comprehensive hub for private aircraft next year in Shanghai.

The new 80-million-yuan (US$11.6 million) Hongqiao Airport Business Aviation Center, which broke ground yesterday, will provide a full range of services for privately owned aircraft, including leasing, hanger space and maintenance, its owners said. It will even have rooms where busy business people can hold work conferences within minutes of touching down in town.

The business aviation center is expected to open in the second half of next year, according to the Shanghai Airport Authority, the operator of the city's two airports and an investor in the project.

The facility will feature a 3,000-square-meter operations and passenger waiting building, 5,000 square meters of hanger area and a dedicated aircraft apron. Planes using the center will take off and land on the Hongqiao International Airport runway.

"This professional center will provide separate passages and space for passengers traveling by business airplanes and ensure more efficiency and privacy for travelers who pay a much higher cost for their trips," said Xu Xibin, deputy general manager of Shanghai Hawker Pacific, a joint venture and the future operator of the new center.

Shanghai Airport Authority invested in the company with Australia's Hawker Pacific, a major aircraft services provider in the Asian-Pacific Region. Shanghai Hawker Pacific will be supplying integrated services at the center.

The facility is targeting business travelers from Shanghai as well as other cities in East and North Asia.

Most of the visitors expected to use the facility in the near term will be from overseas, as the business-aircraft market in China is now at an early stage, Xu said.

Planes from abroad accounted for more than 80 percent of all business-aircraft flights at local airports last year.

By the year 2010 when Shanghai hosts the World Expo, the center will be able to support an annual turnover of 3,000 to 4,000 business jets, airport officials said.

"With the dedicated center going into operation, many of the senior business officials and visitors to the Shanghai World Expo will have their needs served well if they travel by business jets," Xu said.

The airport authority estimated that business-aircraft flights relying on the local air terminal will grow by 10 percent to 15 percent in each of the next few years, despite the global economic downturn.

The center's operators added that fees charged at the new center will be consistent with present charges at the city's two airports.