Beijing is China's political and business centre with developed airport infrastructure, but also the region's most demanding permit process for business aviation. What distinguishes the destination is that the critical resource is neither the aircraft nor even the slot but the time to complete the paperwork. Below we cover the airports and practical planning.
Airports
Beijing Capital (PEK/ZBAA) lies northeast of the city and remains the main gateway for international arrivals including business aviation. Daxing (PKX/ZBAD) to the south is a newer field with modern infrastructure.
The choice between them is driven by the location of the trip's endpoint and slot availability: distances between the airports and the centre are significant and city traffic is dense, so the ground transfer is built into the schedule with margin.
Permits: the decisive factor
Flights by foreign aircraft into China require Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) permits that take substantially longer to process than in most other destinations in the region. Applications are filed through a ground agent in advance, with lead times depending on the type of operation, the route and passenger nationality.
The practical consequence: planning starts with checking whether the processing timeline is realistic, not with sourcing an aircraft. Trying to arrange a flight within a few days usually fails, and that constraint is administrative rather than operational.
Rules on domestic flights by foreign aircraft are confirmed separately — they are restricted, and a multi-city programme within China requires its own preparation.
Routes and flight times
Beijing is linked to Asian centres by short and medium legs: Seoul about 2 hours, Tokyo around 3 hours 30 minutes, Shanghai about 2 hours, Hong Kong around 3 hours 30 minutes, Singapore about 6 hours.
For longer routes: Dubai around 8 hours, Moscow about 6 hours 30 minutes, Almaty around 4 hours 30 minutes, London about 10 hours 30 minutes. Intercontinental legs require heavy and ultra-long-range aircraft.
When to fly
The comfortable seasons are spring from April to May and autumn from September to October. Summer is hot and humid, winter cold and dry. A separate factor is air quality, which varies seasonally and can affect visibility.
Peak loads come from major state events, international forums and exhibitions, and national holidays when domestic traffic rises sharply. On those dates processing times lengthen further.
How to plan the trip
The order for China differs from the usual: first check the timeline and feasibility of permits for the required dates, then coordinate slots and ground handling, and only then source the aircraft. The reverse sequence here regularly leads to missed dates.
The experience of the ground agent and operator on the China route affects the outcome more than the aircraft's specification: procedures are formalised, and an error in the documents costs days rather than hours.
JetHunter provides access to more than 5,000 aircraft and works with Asian routing. For China, sourcing runs alongside calculating the permit timeline, since it is that, rather than the availability of a suitable aircraft, that determines whether the flight happens on the required dates.
«China is a destination where permits take longer than finding an aircraft. Here planning starts not with the jet but with the paperwork, and the agent's experience affects the outcome more than the aircraft class.»
— Alexey Mordvintsev, CEO of JetHunter
Author: Alexey Mordvintsev, CEO of JetHunter, President of the Association of Professionals of Executive Aviation Industry (APIDA). Over 14 years in the industry.
