Passengers carried by mainland airlines rose 16.2 pct year-on-year to 139 mln people in the first nine months, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) said.

The aviation regulator said in a statement on its website that cargo traffic rose 13.9 pct from a year earlier to 2.879 mln metric tons.

Domestic passenger traffic was 126 mln persons, up 15.8 pct year-on-year, while international passengers increased by 24.6 pct to 12.47 mln.

Domestic cargo rose 10.2 pct year-on-year to 2.074 mln tons and cargo carried on international routes was 805,000 tons, up 24.6 pct.

Registered aircraft in the civil aviation sector totaled 1,099 at the end of September, up by 101 from end-2006, the CAAC said.

China's civil aviation sector had revenue of 195.4 bln yuan in the first nine months, up 16.8 pct year-on-year, and profit of 13.72 bln yuan, up 9.34 bln yuan.

In the third quarter, passenger traffic grew 15.3 pct year-on-year to 51.912 mln persons while cargo turnover rose 11.5 pct to 1.052 mln tons.

Passenger traffic via domestic air routes was 47.327 mln persons in the third quarter, up 15.1 pct year-on-year, while international passengers were up 17.4 pct at 4.586 mln.

Cargo carried by the airlines in the third quarter was 755,000 tons for domestic routes and 297,000 tons on international routes, up 8.3 pct and 29.7 pct respectively.

In the third quarter, the civil aviation sector booked revenue of 73.57 bln yuan, up 12.5 pct year-on-year, with a profit of 9.1 bln yuan, up 3.6 bln yuan from a year earlier, the CAAC added.