China air market on the rise, says transport group

China is expected to be the world’s fastest-growing market for air travel as the world’s airlines look for global growth in passenger traffic of 6% annually over the next four years, the trade association said today.

The growth will help the industry continue its recovery from the 2001 terror attacks on the United States and the SARS epidemic, the International Air Transport Association said in its year-end report.

But it has a long way to go to erase the record losses of the past four years, said IATA Director-General Giovanni Bisignani.

“It looks like we will finish 2004 with the strongest traffic rebound that the industry has seen since the 1991 recovery from the effects of the Gulf War,” said Bisignani.

The industry carried 1.8 billion passengers this year, up 14%, he said.