China: Regional jet makers eye China market boost but obstacles loom

New rules governing Chinese airline start-ups are fuelling hopes at Embraer, Bombardier and other regional jet makers for a spike in orders next year, but local competition and doubts about size restrictions still loom as major obstacles. The new policy is aimed at encouraging fledgling carriers to boost domestic flights serving secondary markets in China rather than focusing exclusively on big cities. The 3-month old policy has still not been published in its entirety, leaving the industry guessing on some key details. But provisions include scaling back access to major hubs and a requirement that new regional carriers operate at least 25 smaller city-hopper jets before graduating to bigger aircraft. That could translate into Chinese demand for more than 250 new regional jets in the next 2 years. <br/>