China's airlines maintained their rapid growth rate in the first quarter, enjoying a 15.9% year-over-year rise in passengers to 40.9 million and a 13.3% gain in freight to 858,000 tonnes, according to CAAC statistics. International numbers lifted significantly. International passengers climbed 23.9% to 3.8 million and freight rose 25.1% to 238,000 tonnes. CAAC attributed the improvement to growth in both imports and exports as well as airlines' capacity increases.

In 2005, international cargo and passenger traffic rose 13.7% and 9.5% respectively, which compared to 19.5% cargo and 23.7% passenger growth for foreign carriers operating in China. Last year the scenario reversed as China's airlines grew 15.5% and 19.5% respectively, outpacing foreign airline cargo growth of 13.1% and a passenger increase of 7.8%.

In this year's first quarter, Chinese carriers' domestic passengers rose 15.1% to 37.1 million and cargo was up 9.4% to 620,000 tonnes. Due to fierce competition and falling capacity, airlines struggled on routes to Hong Kong and Macau. Passengers increased just 3.8% year-over-year to 1.3 million while cargo plunged 11.9% to 37,000 tonnes. Privately held Spring Airlines reported the highest first-quarter load factor with 94.5%.