China's civil aviation industry achieved a clean sheet in safety last year by notching up 6.13 million hours of safe flight.

According to statistics from the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), 160 million passengers and 34.1 billion tons of cargo were transported in 2006, up 15 percent and 11.2 percent over the previous year.

There were no aviation or air traffic accidents last year. "We will spare no efforts to guarantee safe flights again in 2007," said Wang Changshun, deputy director of the CAAC.

With more and more Chinese people opting to travel by air rather than by train, aviation safety is drawing more attention than ever before.

In November 2004, a China Eastern plane crashed shortly after take-off, killing all 55 passengers and crew members on board. Since then, no severe accident has occurred.

Source: Xinhua