CHINA. Chinese airlines carried 138 million passengers in 2005, up +15.5% on the previous year, according to the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC).
CAAC expects passenger traffic to grow at an average of +14% a year through 2010, and then slow to +11% annually from 2011 to 2020.
According to the Wall Street Journal Asia, a CAAC official said he hoped that at least three Chinese airlines would break into the ranks of the world’s ten largest carriers by 2020.
China’s largest airline in terms of passengers carried, China Southern Airlines, ranked 11th worldwide in 2004, according to the International Air Transport Association. China’s next two biggest airlines were Air China, ranked 15th, and China Eastern Airlines, 22nd.
Boeing and Airbus have both said they expect China to become the second-largest aviation market after the US within the next two decades.
MORE STORIES ON CHINESE AIRLINES
China Southern Airlines lifted by passenger surge – 14/02/06
Air China 2005 passenger traffic up 13% year-on-year – 11/01/06
China Eastern Airlines May passenger traffic up +11.9% – 21/06/05
