Li Jiaxiang, general manager of China National Aviation Holding Company, was promoted to executive vice-minister and acting minister of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), the People's Daily said on its website over the weekend.

Another report by Caijing magazine said Li's predecessor Yang Yuanyuan, who took over the position in 2003, would become a deputy head of the State Administration of Work Safety.

Li, 58, was born in China's Shandong Province in 1949. He joined the People's Liberation Army in 1969 and stayed with the army until 2000 when he was appointed Communist Party chief of Air China. In 2002, Li became Communist Party chief of China National Aviation Holding Company and in 2004 he was named general manager of the company.

Photograph: Yang Yuanyuan (left) and Li Jiaxiang (right).