Airline moves to the black

SHANGHAI: Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines yesterday posted a net profit of 586 million yuan for 2007 compared with a 2.99 billion yuan loss the year before.

News of the company's turnaround pushed its A share up 2.78 percent to close at 11.46 yuan.

In its annual report to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, China Eastern said revenue from aviation business was up 13.92 percent from 2006 to 43.529 billion yuan. Revenue from domestic air routes rose 19 percent from 2006 to 23.9 billion yuan, and that from international air routes was up 20 percent to 12.3 billion yuan.