SHANGHAI - Chinese flag carrier Air China Ltd. said Wednesday its state-owned parent company bought back 122.87 million of its shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange as of Monday, as part of efforts to shore up its stock price following a weak IPO debut.

The share buyback represents 1.11 percent of the airline's total capitalization, Air China said in a statement.

Air China's parent, China National Aviation Holding Co., promised to buy up to 600 million Air China shares on the stock exchange to support the share price if it falls below the initial public offering price of 2.80 yuan (35 U.S. cents; 27 Euro cents) at any time before the end of the year.

The flag carrier's A shares ended unchanged on their debut Friday after dipping as low as 2.74 yuan, weaker than market expectations of a 5 percent to 10 percent gain for the day.

A flood of new share offerings after a yearlong moratorium for shareholding reforms has sapped demand. Meanwhile, airline shares in general have suffered from a poor earnings outlook due to soaring fuel prices.

Air China's shares remained at 2.80 yuan on Monday and were suspended Tuesday because of a shareholders' meeting.

The airline also has shares traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.