China passenger growth to spur air travel market

International air travel from mainland China will rise by an average of 10.8% per year till 2014, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA) projections, Reuters reported. This will make China the world’s fastest growing market. A total of 49.2 million Chinese flew overseas in 2009, and the IATA expects this figure to reach 82.1 million by 2014. "Asia is the most profitable region in the world," IATA Director General Giovanni Bisignani told reporters ahead of an industry forum in Hong Kong on Wednesday. "Of the 800 million new passengers who will fly by 2014, 360 million will be in Asia-Pacific and 214 million of those will be in China." China’s major airlines have all predicted strong profit growth for 2010. In addition, the IATA predicted China’s air cargo volume will rise from 2.3 million metric tons in 2009 to 4.2 million tons in 2014, growth of 11.7% per year.