Fall in airline traffic slows

Airbus , the world's largest producer of passenger jets, said airline traffic had possibly seen "the trough of the recession" and could start to rebound from next year.

"In 2009 we believe total traffic is down 2 percent. In 2010 we may experience a 4.6 percent growth rate," Laurent Rouaud, senior vice president of market and product strategy, said at the Asian Aerospace exhibition in Hong Kong.

In Europe, Air France-KLM said passenger traffic fell 2.9 percent in August but its planes were on average 84.8 percent full, a rise of 1.1 percentage points from the same holiday peak month a year ago.

Its shares rose over 6 percent, helping to push the DJ Stoxx pan-European Travel and Leisure index <.SXTP> up 2.6 percent.

The figures came as industry data for July showed airline passenger and freight traffic dropped much less sharply year-on-year than in the first half of 2009.

Industry body ACI Europe said after a survey of 106 airports passenger traffic at European airports fell 4.3 percent compared with July 2008, versus an average 9.6 percent drop during the preceding six months of this year.

Freight traffic -- a widely watched indicator of economic health -- fell 13.4 percent compared with July 2008, an improvement on the average 22.4 percent decrease during the preceding six months.

"That would fit with our picture," said economist Cristoph Weil at Commerzbank. "We believe we will see a strong recovery in Q3 and Q4 in the euro area."

Air France-KLM said its cargo business had in August confirmed signs of stabilisation seen in recent months.