China Southern Airlines (CSA) expects its passenger traffic to reach 60 million in 2007, an increase of 22 percent compared to 2006, company sources said on June 6.

CSA, which is listed on the New York, Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges, operates China's largest fleet of 307 aircraft.

The passenger traffic of 49 million in 2006 resulted in CSA being the only Chinese carrier to be listed in the world's top ten passenger airlines for 2006 by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The source, a senior official with the CSA, attributed the jump to the dynamic domestic market and CSA's strategic reform.

CSA said in mid-May that the growth of its international routes outpaced domestic in 2006, with passenger traffic volume surging 13.9 percent year on year, higher than the 11.8 percent recorded by domestic air routes.

CSA president Liu Shaoyong has just been re-appointed as a governor of the board of IATA, becoming the first-ever mainland Chinese airline chairman to be re-appointed.