Airlines come down to earth as recession bites

The old Chinese saying, "leaking houses are exposed to night-long pouring rain," may well describe the gloom in the Chinese airline industry.

The industry has been on a rough flight path for some time now as high crude prices have been eroding profit margins. With oil prices coming down, the industry thought it had surpassed the rough times only to be confronted by the snowballing economic crisis.

The deteriorating conditions have led to a slump in freight transportation and also forced people to cut back on air travel.