For decades, the motorcycle industry drove Chongqing's economic growth, making the municipality the largest center for motorcycle production in China.

Now, as motorcycles are banned on the roads of nearly 200 cities, and export volumes keep slumping due to the gloomy global economic environment, local authorities and motorcycle producers are looking to the skies for growth.

Chongqing is one of more than 20 provincial areas or cities across China that have devised plans to explore the general aviation industry after State-level plans were issued in 2010.