Air France, one of the few European airlines that have major operations in China, said yesterday its business on the Chinese mainland is expected to maintain a double-digit growth rate, buoyed by the country's booming economy.

"Our performance in Asia, in which China plays a significant role, has been inspiring over the past year," said Bernard Aubreton, the carrier's general manager for China and the Philippines. "We will keep our eyes on every opportunity to further expand."

Air France's revenue from its Asian routes for fiscal 2000 jumped 28 percent, with an average passenger load factor increasing 1.4 percentage points to 82.3 percent. Its Asian operations account for 18 percent of the airline's global business.

Air France said the number of passengers on its Beijing-Paris and Shanghai-Paris routes surged 23 percent and 14 percent, respectively, in the period when its passenger load factors on the two routes were 77 percent and 84.3 percent.

The airline currently operates its own daily flight between Paris and Beijing, as well as a daily service between Paris and Shanghai under a code-sharing agreement with local carrier China Eastern Airlines.

Air France yesterday also announced plans to expand its cargo operations in Shanghai.

"Due to the rapidly-growing freight market, we'll add one more cargo flight between Paris and Shanghai probably in September or October, deploying a Boeing 747 freighter," Aubreton said. "Our cargo business in China grew about 40 percent last year." Air France currently operates two weekly cargo flights between Paris and Shanghai.

(Eastday.com.cn 06/07/2001)