Tianjin Dongjiang Free Trade Zone now world-class aircraft distribution center

A new A320 plane arrived in Tianjin Binhai international airport on Sept 22. It was the 1000th plane that the Tianjin Dongjiang Free Trade Zone has rented from ICBC leasing.

To date, there are 1,000 rented planes in the Dongjiang Free Trade Zone, which has become the second biggest aircraft distribution center in the world after Ireland.

Before 2010, there were about 1,900 passenger planes in China, 1,200 of which were rented from Irish leasing companies. In December of 2009 ICBC leasing rented out the first two B777-F air freighters. Since then, Dongjiang has used its free trade zone advantages to develop an aircraft rental model.

Currently, China has 3,141 passenger planes. Sixty percent of them are rented out to users, and forty percent of those are rented out by the Dongjiang Free Trade Zone.

According to data from CAAC news, as of the end of 2016 China had 2,950 registered transport aircrafts and 2,096 registered aircrafts in general aviation enterprises. Eight aviation companies had more than 100 aircraft. As of the end of August, 2017 there were 3,141 aircrafts registered for transport and 2,230 registered for general aviation enterprises. The passenger aircrafts rented out by the Dongjiang Free Trade Zone is 776, accounting for 25 percent of all aircrafts. Dongjiang rents out 214 general purpose aircrafts, about 10 percent of the country's total.

The rapid growth of the aviation leasing industry promotes the development of the aviation industry generally.

More and more Chinese leasing companies are going global, ready to face international competition.

In March of 2016, the administration committee of the Dongjiang Free Trade Zone, ICBC leasing and Minsheng financial leasing launched a post-doctoral research center in support of the Chinese leasing industry.