United Air chief sees glimmer of hope

The Sino-US aviation market is likely to witness a recovery in business travel demand by the middle of this year due to increased corporate activity to stimulate economic growth, a top executive of a leading US airline said yesterday.

"Our corporate customers need their sales people to conduct business and look for new market opportunities. The airline industry will be a beneficiary of, if not economic growth, the efforts to stimulate growth in a difficult economy," said Glenn Tilton, chairman and CEO of United Airlines.

Tilton made the remarks on the sidelines of the three-day 2009 US-China Aviation Symposium hosted by the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the US Trade and Development Agency.