(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-19 13:48

Air China, the country's largest international carrier, said on Tuesday that its 2007 net profit rose 30.37 percent year-on-year on higher passenger traffic and improved investment returns.

Net profit was 3.88 billion yuan ($547 million), or 0.33 yuan per share, the Beijing-based airline said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

It reported 1.24 billion yuan of investment returns.

It planned to offer 0.684 yuan in cash dividends per 10 shares, the statement said.

In 2006, its profit soared 65 percent to 2.98 billion yuan.

Sales last year rose 14.58 percent to 49.74 billion yuan. Costs for its core air business rose 9.7 percent to 39.9 billion yuan due to higher fuel costs -- a reflection of higher global crude oil prices -- and increased consumption as services expanded.

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Fuel costs rose 9.42 percent to 16.27 billion yuan, accounting for 40.76 percent of the total. The flagship carrier noted that it had saved 236 million yuan by hedging its fuel requirements.

The airline, which is second in China by fleet size, carried 34.84 million passengers, up 10.59 percent from a year earlier. This lifted its passenger load factor to 78.6 percent from 75.9 percent in 2006.

Calculated by passenger numbers, it had 44 percent and 24 percent of the market shares in Beijing and Shanghai, respectively, last year.

It served 280 routes (72 international), with 220 passenger and cargo planes in operation as of the end of 2007.

Air traffic demand will maintain robust growth this year when Beijing hosts the Olympics, but high fuel prices and fierce competition pose challenges to profitability, the company said in the statement.

Shares in Air China plunged 5.95 percent to 13.75 yuan in Shanghai on Tuesday as uncertainty over tightening measures dragged down the Shanghai Composite Index by 3.96 percent to 3,668.90.