Ancient capital Xi'an has sky-high plans for sightseers

China Aviation Industrial Base in Yanliang, an outlying district about 50 km from downtown Xi'an, has plans to buy five to eight helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft that will fly tourists at altitudes of 200 meters to 3,000 meters, Our picture is a helicopter view of Yanliang.

The project manager Gao Liting said, 'A ride will last 30 minutes to two hours and will take sightseers over the sacred Daoist mountain Huashan, the mausoleum of the legendary Yellow Emperor and the Hukou Waterfalls in the Yellow River.'

Windows of China reported that part of the plan will include opening one of the country's leading aircraft makers, Xi'an Aircraft Industry Group, sites to tourists.

Jin Qiansheng, director of the Yanliang aviation base said, 'According to the developed countries' experience, more people choose to travel by air when per capita GDP exceeds $2,000; when the figure tops $4,000, there's a growing demand for private planes.'

He said China's aviation industry would therefore expect another boom when per capita GDP tops $4,000 'presumably in 2012'.

There just possibly might be a few flaws in that logic.