Air China, the country's flag carrier, has announced that although its November 2010 passenger traffic experienced a month-on-month decline due to weakened demand it had still risen by 8.5% on a year-on-year basis.

The carrier said in a recent statement that its passenger capacity rose 12.1% year on year in November 2010. Capacity on international routes grew by 17.5% year-over-year, primarily due to an increase in the frequency of flights on American, European, and Australian routes. Capacity on domestic routes rose by 8.5%. Passenger traffic on international routes rose by 7.2%, while that on domestic routes rose by 9%.

However, its passenger load factor was 76.8%: down 2.5 percentage points from the previous year.

The carrier's cargo capacity rose by 14.1% year on year in November 2010. The cargo load factor improved to 64.6% in November, an increase of 4.3 percentage points over the previous year.