Spring, with flowers and drizzle, is always the best season in the regions south of the Yangtze River. But this April, together with China's business aviation industry, I suffered from chilly winds and cold rains in Shanghai.

The third Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition opened on April 14 and I visited the exhibition one day prior to this, on the media day. Two small conference rooms were fully booked and the time of each press conference was strictly limited, since these rooms had a price tag of $1,000 per hour.

One question was asked at every press conference: By what margin did your deliveries decline in 2014?