China's civil aviation industry made profits over 10 billion yuan in first 3 quarters

China's civil aviation industry made profits of 10.34 billion yuan (1.24 billion US dollars) in first three quarters this year, the Beijing News quoted the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (GACAC) as saying Tuesday.

China's airline companies, except airlines for post service, earned profits of 7.35 billion yuan together, a sharp contrast to the loss of 5 billion yuan in the same period of time.

Expert attributed the profits to relatively stable freight fares. During the first three quarters, the freight volume of passengers has reached 90.641 million.

Despite the price increase in many other sectors, the relatively stable freight fares still attracted many passengers in the face of various transportation methods, expert said.

The GACAC official predicted that total profits made by whole civil aviation industry in 2004 will exceed the goal set early this year.

However, expert said China Aviation Oil Holding Company's starting to raise the oil price in July has reduced the profits made by some airline companies.

The yearly net profits of China Eastern, China Southern and Shanghai Airlines will reduce 110 million yuan, 150 million yuan and 37.08 million yuan respectively in 2004, GACAC statistics show.