Airbus SAS, the world's largest maker of commercial aircraft, said in a report that China's aviation market will see an annual increase of 7.9 percent in the next 20 years, following India to become the world's second fastest growing market.

India's aviation market is forecast to have a 10 percent growth annually over the next two decades, according to the report.

A total of 25,000 new planes worth US$3.1 trillion will be delivered between 2009 and 2028 in the global airline market, said the report.

The report also said emerging economies, airline expansion, fleet replacement will drive the demand for energy-effective and environment-friendly airplanes.

The Asia Pacific, including China and India, is forecast to account for 31 percent of demand, followed by Europe at 25 percent and North America at 10 percent over the next two decades.

The company predicted the world's aviation market will decline 2 percent in 2009 and increase 4.6 over the next year amid a gradual economic recovery.

China's civil air transportation continued recovering in August, with three major production indicators keeping a rapid growth in the month, according to statistics with Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

In August, China's total air traffic turnover obtained a month-on-month growth of 7.4 percent and a year-on-year growth of 30.6 percent. The passenger traffic turnover registered growth of 7.6 percent on month and 41.6 percent on year. The cargo traffic turnover posted month-on-month growth of 8.6 percent and year-on-year growth of 18.1 percent.

As of September 12, the country's civil aviation industry had realized 8 billion yuan (US$1.17 billion) of profit this year, said Li Jiaxiang, director with the CAAC.

The world's airline industry has been hit hard by the financial crisis due to the erosion of demand and reductions of capacity.

(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2009)