China cargo volume fall in June
by admin on Jul.18, 2008, under Cargo Transport, Trade & Market
SHANGHAI – Chinese airlines’ passenger volume fell 3.8 percent in June from a year earlier as natural disasters discouraged air travel, extending a drop in May that broke the industry’s steady record of growth in China’s economic boom.
Flag carrier Air China (601111.SS: Quote, Profile, Research) (0753.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) and other Chinese airlines carried a total of 14.17 million passengers last month, the official CAAC Journal, an aviation industry newspaper, said in its online edition.
Passenger volume also shrank in May, after a devastating earthquake in southwest China curbed tourist travel to scenic Sichuan province and led to the cancellation of conferences and other events.
Passenger volume on domestic routes fell 2.6 percent to 13.02 million, while volume for international service fell 16.1 percent to 1.15 million, the newspaper said.
A dull global economy and strict airport safety checks in the run-up to the Olympic Games in August have also been blamed for slowing international air traffic.
Chinese carriers’ combined freight volume dropped 0.8 percent to 321,000 tonnes in June, the newspaper added.
Air cargo demand has boomed in China, fuelled in part by flourishing overseas trade, although export growth slowed substantially in June due to global economic weakness and the appreciation of China’s yuan. Reuters