Passengers carried by Chinese airlines rose 16.7 percent over
the same period last year to 86.7 million in the first half of
2007, the civil aviation regulator said here Saturday.
Among the total, domestic passengers increased by 16.2 percent
to 78.8 million while international passengers reached 7.9 million,
up 21.8 percent, according to the General Administration of Civil
Aviation of China (CAAC).
Cargo traffic carried by Chinese airlines rose 15.3 percent to
1.83 million tons with domestic cargo growing by 11.3 percent to
1.32 million tons and that for international routes of 508,000
tons, up 27.2 percent.
During the period, revenues generated by China's civil aviation
sector rose 18.3 percent to 121.8 billion yuan while the the sector
also turned profitable in the first half with net profit reaching
4.62 billion yuan, up 4.97 billion yuan from the same period last
year.
Combined revenue generated by the country's airlines hit 85.96
billion yuan, up 19 percent, while the net profit of the airlines
reached 1.54 billion yuan, up 3.93 billion yuan from the
corresponding period last year, the CAAC said.
Registered airplanes in the civil aviation sector in China
totaled 1,054 at the end of June, an increase of 56 over six months
ago, the CAAC said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2007)