PROFILE - CHINA'S AVIATION SECTOR (FEB 2005).

(From Asia Pulse)

Byline: 2010, it is estimated that the number of airports in

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PROFILE OF CHINA'S AVIATION SECTOR

PREPARED BY ASIA PULSE ANALYSTS (FEBRUARY 2005)

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by Paolo Hooke

OVERVIEW:

China's fast-growing aviation sector holds massive potential and enormous opportunities.

As China opens to the outside world, its rapid economic growth, increasing levels of affluence and surge in domestic and outbound tourism are fuelling sharply rising demand for air services in the country.

As millions of middle class Chinese become upwardly mobile, there is expected to be a significant shift towards air travel, with the country forecast to have 40 million outbound passengers this year.

In the first ten months of 2004, total transport turnover, passenger traffic and cargo and postal freight volume jumped by 40.4 per cent, 44.9 per cent and 28.9 per cent on-year respectively.

Passenger volume has topped 100 million person times for 2004, already exceeding the entire passenger volume of 87.59 million person times for 2003.

Over the past 20 years, the sector's total traffic volume, passenger traffic and freight traffic have grown at an annual rate of 18 per cent, 16 per cent and 16 per cent respectively, according to Gao Hong …