China sees single-digit traffic growth as Asia’s airlines brace for tough 2012

China's air transport industry has entered a stage of slower growth, registering single-digit total air traffic (RTKs, including passenger and cargo traffic) of growth in 2011 according to CAAC. China's aviation industry experienced double-digit traffic growth from 2004 through 2010, according to CAAC, with 2010 clearly a banner year of recovery for China, after the downturn in 2008/09. 2011's volumes have been well below expectation, particularly since the middle of the year.

In the wider Asia Pacific region, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has noted that Asian carriers are bracing themselves for another tough year in 2012 as the outlook is impacted by the "unresolved concerns about the Eurozone debt crisis and wider uncertainty about the global economic outlook for 2012". However, the association noted the region's airlines are faring better than airlines in other regions and that they are still "relatively well placed" to benefit from future growth opportunities.