From China Economic Net:
China has overtaken Japan as the largest air travel market in Asia and is second only to the US in terms of total scheduled departing seats.
A new report from the ITTC consultancy division of Airclaims says until 2003, Japan was the most important Asia/Pacific country for scheduled airline operations. But in 2004, China moved ahead on the basis of 22% growth to around 180 million departing seats and will continue double-digit growth of 13% in 2005. China’s 130 airports have seen an average growth of 13% in capacity per year between 1998 and 2004, while Japan’s 71 airports have grown at an annual rate of only 1.1% over the same period.