China's?aviation market is showing signs of recovery and will maintain a rapid monthly growth for the rest of this year, according to the country's aviation regulator.

Its domestic airlines flew 21 million passengers last month, a jump of 21.9 percent from a year earlier, thanks to the recovery in demand for air travel which was spurred by a government stimulus plan, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said.

The CAAC also said last month's growth outpaced a 16.4 percent rise in the first half of this year.

The number of passengers on the Chinese mainland routes surged 23.6 percent from a year earlier to outshine that on overseas routes, said the industry regulator.

The passenger volume on international routes rose for the first time since April 2008 by 0.2 percent while the number of people traveling to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau fell 3.9 percent, against the 15.8-percent yearly drop in June.

China's economy recovered as the government's 4 trillion yuan (US$586 billion) stimulus measures gave it a big boost, which also sparked higher demand for air travel, the CAAC said. It forecast a rapid monthly growth in the second half of the year.

Cargo volume rose 3.2 percent to 359,900 tons last month, and international cargo volume gained 1.1 percent for the first time since July last year.

The domestic carriers earned a combined profit of 510 million yuan last month, according to the CAAC.

(Shanghai Daily August 18, 2009)