Air cargo growth to slow

Domestic air passenger and cargo volume growth should ease in 2006, China's airline industry regulator General Administration of Aviation of China said. Passenger traffic will grow by about 159 million people, or 15%, next year, down from 33% growth in 2004 and 20% this year. Cargo volume is expected to rise 10% to 3.36 million tons in 2006, down from 25% and 20% over the past two years. The predicted slowdown was due to the market reverting to a more stable pace of expansion following the post-SARS rebound of 2004 and 2005.