China Southern’s latest traffic data confirm weakening demand growth in the Chinese aviation industry. The airline carried 3.3% fewer passengers in June than a year earlier. Passenger numbers for the first half of the year are up just 5.7%, a far cry from the local industry’s typical growth rates of 15% or more in the past few years. Chinese aviation demand has been diminished by the Sichuan earthquake in May as well as price rises offsetting rising fuel prices.

Aiming to broaden and deepen its aerospace expertise, South Korea is planning to develop a regional jet airliner, a very light private jet and an all-composite light propeller aircraft. The proposal for a 60-seat regional jet revives the country’s long-standing ambition to take a major role in developing and building a commercial aircraft, an ambition that dates back to the K100, a 93-123-seat aircraft that was proposed for codevelopment with China in the mid-1990s. It would also strengthen the trend for new aircraft programs appearing in Asia.

Chinese courts are continuing to order pilots to pay damages for quitting their jobs, enforcing the most contentious term in the employment contracts of a rapidly growing industry suffering extreme shortages of skilled labor. The latest ruling involves China Eastern, the Chinese airline that has suffered the most serious labor problems this year.