China sees aviation boom

China is a hot topic in the travel industry these days. Overseas hospitality industries clamour to attract customers from the rising stars of the motherland, China itself is poised to become the world’s number one travel destination and its citizens are thriving and prosperous as never before.

A sign of general prosperity comes from a report by China’s civil aviation agency, which reports profits from both airlines and airports. As reported in the Shanghai Securities News, the total profits add up to USD $610.3 million (4.62 billion yuan) for the first half of 2007.

Domestic airlines, enjoying sales form both more foreign tourists and more mobile Chinese raked in a conbined sum of 1.54 billion yuan in the first half of 2007, and airport revenues account for 2.11 billion yuan. The newspaper reported that the difference was accounted for by other aviation related business, but did not go into detail.

The stats for all China’s domestic airlines can be accounted for as China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Air China are all listed on the stock markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The industry as a whole has grown 18.3 percent year by year, so the future looks peachy for airlines in the land of the lychee.