Business aviation in China and across the Asia-Pacific region will be supported by the approval of a core statement by the transportation ministries of the 21 countries in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, forum.

APEC economies reached a consensus on the benefits of a regional framework to support the development of the business aviation sector during a meeting held in Tokyo last week.

They agreed that business aviation operations should be treated, from an economic regulatory standpoint, as non-commercial, not-for-hire aviation. As such, companies in the sector may have the freedom to fly within and between any points in all of the APEC nations, in accordance with each country's applicable requirements.