Chinese Air Traffic Growth Slows To Single Digits

February 6, 2009

China's air travel growth fell to single digits, for the first time in five years, as a slowing economy hit air travel demand, official data showed on Friday.

Chinese carriers handled 191.91 million passengers last year, up 3.3 percent from 2007, while cargo volume climbed 0.3 percent to 4.03 million tonnes, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on its web site.

Passenger traffic in December rose 8.2 percent to 15.67 million, but freight volume fell 15.2 percent to 307,853 tonnes, the data showed.

China's three biggest carriers, Air China, China Eastern and China Southern Airlines have all projected losses for the year.

But Liu Shaoyong, chairman of China Eastern said this week the outlook could improve this year as China's aggressive stimulus plan and supportive policies take effect.

Domestic air traffic could be on its way to recovery in the second half of this year, Liu told reporters.

International travel, however, has not hit the bottom and might show signs of recovery in the first or even second half of 2010, he added.

Beijing has unveiled a wide range of policies recently to help nurse its ailing airline sector back to health, including fee rebates and unprecedented aggressive cash aid to China Eastern and China Southern.