Considering the peak season of July, August and September is just arriving, Li Jiaxiang, director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said China’s civil aviation market will thrive in the second half, pushing the entire year’s growth of domestic passenger transport to over 20%. For which relief, much thanks. In the first half of 2009, China’s domestic civil aviation sector saw its passenger transport grow by 20.4%, a figure that surprised the market. Not only is such rapid growth better than expected, it is higher than the same period in 2007, when the economy was faring well.
The latest data shows that in the first half of 2009, the entire civil aviation industry reported a total transport of 19.19 billion ton-kilometers, 107 million passengers, and 1.89 million tons of cargo.
Of these, domestic passenger transport showed rapid growth, up 20.4% year-on-year. Due to booming demand, airlines have transferred part of their international aviation capacity to the domestic market. Chinese carriers also canceled 4,711 scheduled domestic flights during the first half of this year.
Why has domestic passenger transport increased so rapidly? One reason is the drastic decrease in plane ticket prices has boosted the demand for domestic aviation. Ticket price statistics for the first five months show that the net profit for domestic air routes stood at RMB0.53 per passenger-kilometer, a drop of nearly 20% year-on-year.
People’s Daily Online reported Li Jiaxiang said that domestic passenger transport is expected to continue a high-speed growth, and domestic cargo will follow, but he is not overly-optimistic as to the profits for the entire civil aviation industry.
He added that expanding the international transport market is the industry’s priority for the second half.
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