IATA sees weak traffic in the Asia Pacific as China's manufacturing sector slumps

IATA reported (20-Oct-2015) traffic in the 'Within Far East' market remained weak in Aug-2015, up 2.2% year-on-year. Growth remains weak and is consistent with economic slowdown in some key economies and declines in trade to/from the region. In China, a slump in exports has weakened manufacturing for the past several months, and looks to be placing downward pressure on business-related premium travel within the Far East. Premium travel in the 'Within Far East' market was up just 1.5%, well below the 6.8% trend for the year to date. Although recent volatility in China's stock market is "not necessarily indicating that the economy will have a hard landing", various metrics suggest that growth has slowed and this is "not a good sign for air travel demand in the region". [more - original PR]