China’s air travel growth fell into single digits, the first time in five years, as a slowing economy hit air travel demand, according to official data. Chinese carriers handled 4.03 million tonnes of cargo last year, up 0.3 per cent from a year earlier, and 191.91 million passengers last year, up 3.3 per cent from 2007, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on its website. Passenger traffic in December rose 8.2 per cent to 15.67 million, but freight volume fell 15.2 per cent to 307,853 tonnes, the data showed.