China's regional jet gold rush hits regulatory turbulence

China's regional jet market is struggling to get off the ground as Beijing slows approvals for new airlines, industry executives say, dashing hopes that recent policy changes would drive aircraft sales. Foreign companies such as Bombardier, Embraer and ATR had cheered a 2016 policy that required passenger carriers to operate at least 25 city-hopper jets before graduating to bigger aircraft. It appeared to all but assure sales of such small planes in the world's fastest-growing aircraft market, currently dominated by wide-body jets, as the regulator tried to boost flights into China's smaller cities. But there is a problem, executives say: the CAAC has only approved 2 new airlines since the "Rule 96" policy went into effect. <br/>