Recovery boosts CAL profit 52 percent

China Airlines Ltd (華航), the nation's largest carrier, said yesterday that an economic recovery pushed its net profit up 52 percent in the first quarter to NT$696 million (US$21.06 million) compared to a year ago.

The airline carried 450,000 more passengers during the January-March period than the same time last year, when first quarter profit totaled NT$456 million (US$13.8 million), said John Chang, a finance division officer.

The company's pretax profit reached NT$748 million (US$22.63 million) in the first quarter, up from NT$435 million (US$13.16 million) in the same period last year, Chang said.

Revenue for the January-March period totaled NT$21.57 billion (US$652.39 million), up from NT$19.16 billion (US$579.85 million) a year earlier, he said.

Passenger revenue totaled NT$11.3 billion (US$341.97 million), up roughly 10 percent from a year earlier, while cargo revenue grew a sharper 17 percent to about NT$9.03 billion (US$273.28 million), Chang said.

The nation's second-largest airline, EVA Airways Corp (長榮), yesterday projected a 2004 net profit of NT$2.78 billion (US$84.08 million) -- nearly double last year's earnings.

The carrier reported the figure in a filing posted on the Web site of the Taiwan Stock Exchange, which doesn't require companies to explain their profit projections.