Why are rich Chinese ‘quietly’ moving private jets offshore, slumming it in budget seats?

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By Ralph Jennings

Published December 28, 2025

China’s ultra-wealthy are quietly parking their private jets offshore to sidestep tougher compliance rules at home, while corporate executives are downgrading to commercial flights, analysts say, as economic headwinds hit the country’s business aircraft fleet.

Aircraft owned by affluent Chinese nationals are said to be increasingly resurfacing in hubs such as Singapore and Japan, while more billionaires and corporate executives are turning to first-class commercial cabins or timeshare jet services for overseas travel.

The number of business jets in mainland China fell to 249 last year from 270 in 2023, according to Hong Kong-based aviation services firm Asian Sky Group. The charter fleet has also shrunk, dropping by three aircraft to 46 as of June this year, compared with two years prior.

In contrast, Hong Kong logged a net gain of one business jet last year, bringing its total to 56, while Singapore saw its count increase by nine and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole added 14 for a total of 1,156, Asian Sky Group found.

A growing share of the planes outside mainland China belong to Chinese owners, said Subramania Bhatt, CEO of the travel marketing and technology firm China Trading Desk. “What we’re seeing is more aircraft quietly rebased in places like Singapore and Japan,” he said.

Analysts said some operators feel daunted by restrictions on private jet use.

This year, China began requiring that aircraft be documented and approved by Chinese authorities at least five business days in advance of any landing permit request, up from three.

That time frame can complicate travel plans, but it gives authorities leeway to vet each proposed flight for security and airspace availability.

Some of China’s wealthiest people are basing their aircraft offshore to get around these restrictions, said Charles Chang, a finance professor at Fudan University in Shanghai. The mainland’s rules, he said, are “making it more difficult to fly out of China”.

Some high-net-worth individuals have also left China, taking their planes with them, said Alfredo Montufar-Helu, China-based managing director at Ankura Consulting. They may still visit, he said, but “China is no longer their primary place of residence”.

UBS said three Chinese billionaires moved away in 2024, when the total dropped to 427 from 520 in 2023, mainly due to a downturn in the troubled property sector and volatility in the financial markets.

Rising storage costs and the optics of Beijing’s 13-year-old anti-corruption drive also make private ownership less appealing, Chang said.

Some high-net-worth individuals and business executives are turning to commercial flights, including economy-class seats as well as more spacious options, he said. “This group, they’re still going to travel, but they’re just going to get on flights,” Chang said.

Bhatt said some people are chartering business jets instead of buying their own. Mainland China’s drop in chartered business jets over the two years ending in June was 6.1 per cent compared with the 7.8 per cent overall decline in business jets from 2023 through 2024, per the Asian Sky Group data.

Wealthy travellers without their own planes may fly first-class to Europe or the United States, then transfer to business jets arranged by companies such as Flexjet or NetJets, said David Dixon, the Hong Kong-based president of business jet seller Jetcraft Asia.

Analysts point to several years of economic sluggishness as a cause of the country’s declining interest in private jets, which are often used for quick access to other parts of Asia, as well as to business properties in China, including mines in remote locations.

“As China’s economic growth slowed … purchasing power weakened, leading to a decline in demand for business jets,” Asian Sky Group said in a March report on the business jet industry. “A good example of this is in the real estate market, which has noticeably cooled down in recent years.”

Despite the contraction, China’s civil aviation authorities have been looking to improve infrastructure for private jets, with plans to increase the number of civilian airports to 450 by 2035 from 234 in 2019, Xinhua reported.

Globally, American aerospace gear maker Honeywell has forecast deliveries of 8,500 new business jets over the next decade, with a combined value of US$283 billion and an average annual growth rate of 3 per cent.