Chinese airlines reported an aggregate net income of 12.78 billion yuan(US$1.98 billion) for the first half of 2011, up 26% over a net profit of 10.14 billion yuan reported in the year-ago period.

Passenger boardings climbed 9.8% to 139 million. Passengers carried on domestic routes rose 10% and international boardings increased 8.2%. Average load factor improved 2.5 points to 81.3%.

Cargo traffic dropped 0.4% to 2.66 million tonnes. Cargo traffic on domestic routes increased by 1.4% and international routes dropped 3.8%, mainly owing to China's declining exports/imports triggered by the slowdown of domestic economic growth and the slow recovery of the global economy, as well as the instability in North Africa.

CAAC noted the passenger growth rate was lower than the goal it set for 2011 in January calling for passenger boardings to rise 13% to 300 million and cargo traffic to lift 1.5% to 6.2 million tonnes for the full year.

As of June 30, Chinese carriers operated a collective fleet of 1,657 aircraft, an increase of 60 aircraft over the same date last year.