Business people began to realize the convenience and privacy business jets provide after the 2003 SARS outbreak suspendedmany public flights. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Business aviation remains available only to the social pyramid's tip.

Hainan Airlines made headlines when it introduced the first business jet for chartered flights 20 years ago.

The sector grew gradually in the following years. Most customers were international corporations chartering flights for executives.

Chinese businesspeople began to realize the convenience and privacy business jets provide after the 2003 SARS outbreak suspended many public flights, Liao said.

Most private jets then were imported by airlines and companies to provide charter flights, rather than owned by individuals. More Chinese companies started buying their own jets in 2009, he said.

Business jet sales have dropped since 2008 from 1,317 that year to 672 in 2012, US General Aviation Manufacturers Association figures show.

Yet the Chinese market seemed promising during the period. More than 50 jets were purchased on the mainland in 2011, compared with 20 the year before. The number rose to 57 in 2012.

There were about 400 private jets in China last year, compared to 30 in 2010.

But that figure pales in comparison to the US' more than 14,000 business aircraft.

Bolen, of the NBAA, told China Daily before the ABACE that he believed China's business aviation market is poised for quick growth as the country eases such restrictions as low-altitude air-transport limits - and as people increasingly view business airplanes as tools rather than luxuries.

Yet popular understanding continues to associate them with extravagance.

A photo of Hong Kong kung fu star Jackie Chan posing in front of a Legacy 500 plane of Embraer in Shanghai on April 13 went viral on the Chinese Internet.

Chan owns a Legacy 650, made by the Brazil manufacturer, which reportedly costs $30 million.