An Airbus A330 at Amsterdam International Airport, Netherlands, the. [CFP]

Chinese mainland airlines carried 1.49 million passengers on international routes in February, surging 40.4 percent year-on-year and up 9.1 percent on a monthly basis, according to figures from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

Traffic demand on domestic routes increased 17.4 percent year-on-year and 4 percent compared with that in January, CAAC said.

It will take the overall airline industry two years to see their traffic and profitability return to a pre-crisis level, but "the China market needs only one year", said Marnix Fruitema, Air France-KLM senior vice-president, Asia -Pacific.

China reported a stronger-than-expected 45.7 percent year-on-year growth in exports in February, compared with 21 percent growth in January, thanks partly to a much lower comparable base in 2008, but more importantly due to increasing demand from Europe and the United States.

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"The airline industry is clearly a key beneficiary of increasing corporate activities," Li said. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) recently halved its loss forecast for 2010 to US$2.8 billion.