Air China Ltd doesn't plan to acquire China Eastern Airlines Corp and its recent stake increase was coincidental, company secretary Huang Bin said today.

The remark came as Air China's parent recently increased its holding of China Eastern's H-shares, which triggered public speculation that the country's biggest airline hasn't given up its plan of trumping the deal between China Eastern and Singapore Airlines.

China National Aviation Holding Co, the nation's flagship international carrier, increased its holding in China Eastern to 12.07 percent from 11.02 percent on November 29 with the purchase of 4.28 million shares at HK$7.585 each (97 US cents).

Huang said a Hong Kong-based investment arm under the parent company independently decided to increase the stake.

Singapore Airlines Ltd and its parent Temasek Holdings Pte signed an agreement to buy a 24-percent stake at HK$3.80 apiece in China Eastern Airlines Corp to add flights in the world's second-largest aviation market in November.

Under terms of the deal, Singapore Airlines will spend HK$4.7 billion on a 16-percent stake in China Eastern and Temasek will buy an 8.3-percent stake for HK$2.5 billion. China Eastern's parent plans to buy 1.1 billion new shares at HK$4.18 billion to retain its majority stake.

However, the US$926-million deal still needs the approval of China Eastern's minority shareholders.

The deal will fall apart if one-third of China Eastern's H shareholders vote against it at a shareholder's meeting on January 8.

Air China said in a statement on September 24 that its parent had no plans or negotiations regarding an acquisition of China Eastern although it had considered buying shares with Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways.