Thirty-nine private companies in Wenzhou, an economic hub in east China's Zhejiang Province, are planning to buy their own aircraft, according to a local source.

Xu Weijie, board chairman of the Leqing aviation association, said 22 of those companies have placed orders for private or business aircraft so far this year. The most expensive will cost more than 60 million yuan (7.5 million U.S. dollars).

A Shanghai company held an exhibition of U.S.-manufactured helicopters this week and two local business people place orders at a price of 3.5 million yuan each.

The Leqing aviation association, which is also a private club, is planning to invest some 300 million yuan (about 37.5 million US dollars) to build an exclusive airport for the private companies.

Although there are thousands of private aircraft in developed countries, small, private aircraft are rarely seen hovering in the skies over China.

Source: Xinhua