China Southern Airlines on Tuesday said net profit soared 17-fold last year on the back of surging demand for air travel in the world's second-largest economy.
The carrier's profit reached 5.8 billion yuan (US$884 million) in 2010 and operating revenue leapt 40 percent to 76.5 billion yuan as robust economic growth and major events such as the Shanghai World Expo boosted ticket sales.
China Southern added its bottom-line was also helped by the disposal of its shares in MTU Maintenance Zhuhai Co, which earned the company 1.08 billion yuan.
Total passenger numbers rose 15.4 percent to 76.46 million during the year.
The airline has been carried along on booming demand for air traffic in China as the country's economy roars ahead with near double-digit growth and an increasingly affluent middle class travels more frequently.
China Southern's net profit result was higher than the 4.59 billion yuan forecast by analysts and compared with the 330 million yuan posted in 2009, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The firm said it had "successfully grasped buoyant opportunities arising from continuous prosperity in the aviation industry".
"Faced with an increasingly complex domestic and international economic environment, China's aviation industry will continue to forge ahead amid opportunities and challenges," chairman Si Xianmin said in a statement.
But investors appeared unimpressed by the result, with China Southern's Shanghai-listed shares closing down 1.21 percent at 8.17 yuan.
China Southern is one of the country's major airlines, along with Air China and China Eastern Airlines.
A total of 267 million air passenger trips were recorded in China in 2010, up 15.8 percent from the previous year, official figures showed.
The carrier's profit reached 5.8 billion yuan (US$884 million) in 2010 and operating revenue leapt 40 percent to 76.5 billion yuan as robust economic growth and major events such as the Shanghai World Expo boosted ticket sales.
China Southern added its bottom-line was also helped by the disposal of its shares in MTU Maintenance Zhuhai Co, which earned the company 1.08 billion yuan.
Total passenger numbers rose 15.4 percent to 76.46 million during the year.
The airline has been carried along on booming demand for air traffic in China as the country's economy roars ahead with near double-digit growth and an increasingly affluent middle class travels more frequently.
China Southern's net profit result was higher than the 4.59 billion yuan forecast by analysts and compared with the 330 million yuan posted in 2009, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The firm said it had "successfully grasped buoyant opportunities arising from continuous prosperity in the aviation industry".
"Faced with an increasingly complex domestic and international economic environment, China's aviation industry will continue to forge ahead amid opportunities and challenges," chairman Si Xianmin said in a statement.
But investors appeared unimpressed by the result, with China Southern's Shanghai-listed shares closing down 1.21 percent at 8.17 yuan.
China Southern is one of the country's major airlines, along with Air China and China Eastern Airlines.
A total of 267 million air passenger trips were recorded in China in 2010, up 15.8 percent from the previous year, official figures showed.
