Homegrown thrills

To popularize flying, the company established China's first civil aerobatic team in 2014, which has since performed at more than 40 air shows in 16 provincial regions.

Yu, also a retired flyer of People's Liberation Army Air Force, is a member of the team.

"We are the first civil aerobatic team in China piloting aircraft developed by Chinese companies, and we are very proud to have led the development of civil aerobatic shows in the country," he said.

The team is very proud of its aerobatic routine, which is renowned for its precision and creativity, he said.

Starair Aircraft Co's Aurora — the first lightweight sports aircraft developed domestically — is the only model flown by Yu's team.

The first Aurora was manufactured by the company in October 2008. As of Sept 20 this year, the company had made 300 of the aircraft, which is sold to clients in 28 provincial-level regions across the country.

The plane also won flying approval from aviation authorities in the United States in 2019, and Australia in 2023.

Weighting only 350 kilograms, the two-seat airplane has a maximum flying distance of 1,200 kilometers and can fly at a speed of up to 265 km per hour.

Deng Yu, general manager of Starair Aircraft, said the company is very optimistic about the future commercial prospects of the plane.

"In the beginning, we named the plane the Aurora because we wanted to sell it to overseas market, but it is the Chinese market where we first realized a breakthrough," he said.

Deng said the company is striving to improve the quality of the Aurora while lowering its price, so it is competitive in the international market.

"The design and technology of the airplane are among the top levels in the world," he said. "We want to further cut the manufacturing costs so that after the costs of tariffs, shipping, and sales agents are factored in, the airplane is still competitive in overseas markets."

The company wants to expand the Aurora's sales to markets including North America, Europe, Oceania and Southeast Asia, he said.

Despite the progress in the domestic general aviation industry, Deng believes there is still a wide gap to other countries in infrastructure building and the opening of lower-altitude space. The US, for example, has more than 20,000 airports for general aviation, while China only has around 400, he said.

While the central government has encouraged the development of the low-altitude economy and general aviation, safety is still its top priority, so opening up low-altitude airspace has been done in an incremental way, he said.