China Eastern Airlines Corp, one of the three biggest Chinese state carriers, said today it flew 2.82 million passengers in February, 10.4 percent more than February a year ago.

 

The Shanghai-based airline said its cargo tonnage rose 4.6 percent to 57,470 metric tons (63,217 short tons) in February. Year-earlier figures weren't available.

 

In the first two months, the airline carried 5.45 million passengers, up 6.7 percent from the same period last year.

 

China Eastern's passenger load factor, or the amount of seats filled on each flight, rose 0.88 percentage point from a year earlier to 71.9 percent in February. The load factor in January was 64.23 percent.

 

China Eastern didn't elaborate on its traffic figures, which were posted on its Website.

 

(Shanghai Daily March 20, 2007)