Keep calm and carry on

China’s airlines are slowing, not stalling

China’s slowing economy and its potential impact on airlines in the Asia Pacific region has been grabbing headlines but the heads of the region’s major carriers have a message for the prophets of doom suggesting Beijing’s growth bubble has burst. It is, quite simply: Relax. Like everyone else, China’s airlines are suffering reduced profitability in the face of high fuel costs and jittery market conditions. But it has to be seen in perspective.

True, China’s economy has eased back from double-digit expansion to GDP growth of around 7. 5 per cent. But that’s a level still the envy of the developed world. As Cathay Pacific Airways chief executive John Slosar, who has been involved with China for more than 30 years, puts it: “Economies will go up and they will go down… Cathay Pacific is still bullish on China”.