China’s aviation sector losses touch 28 billion yuan in 2008

China’s aviation sector posts losses amounting to 28 billion yuan in 2008 – its biggest loss in 30 years.

The aviation industry in China suffered a total loss of 28 billion yuan, or about US $4.09 billion, in 2008.

This is considered as the biggest loss that the Chinese aviation industry has suffered in 30 years.
According to Yang Guoqing, deputy director of Civil Aviation Administration of China, China’s air transportation dropped sharply in 2008, mainly on account of a blizzard at the beginning of the year, the Sichuan earthquake as well as the global economic crisis.

There was an increase in the number of airline passengers in January 2009, but the air cargo traffic continued to plummet and the international air transport market was yet to recover, Yang was quoted by the website chinanews.com.cn as telling the 11th annual meeting of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

He suggested at the CPPCC session that more money be invested on construction of airports in 2009 and more international pacts on cooperation be signed.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global aviation industry suffered a total loss of US $8 billion in 2008 on account of the high oil price in the first half of 2008, coupled with the fall in demand for air travel in the second half of 2008.

China’s air traffic volume in 2008 went down sharply, Yang said, though passenger and freight turnover rose by 2.4% and passenger traffic volume increased by 3.3%. .

He told the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference that China’s civil aviation industry was very much related with the country’s economy and was as “a barometer of economic development.” The global economic downturn adversely affected the aviation sector faster than it did any other industry, he added.
Though, by January 2009, the passenger traffic volume of the country’s entire aviation industry started improving, the cargo traffic volume kept coming down.

Airline companies in China are at present in the process of recovering, with total profits amounting to 40 million yuan in January 2009, Yang Guoqing, who is also a member of China’s National Committee of Chinese People’s Political Consultation Conference, said.

China’s strategy in 2009, according to Yang, would be to boost its investment in construction of airports, expand the country’s cooperation with overseas investments, set up strategically its international service sector as well as “actively develop” international service sectors in the economy.