Air China, the country's largest international airline, said that it would invest 18 billion yuan (about 2.55 billion U.S. dollars) to expand capacity in 2008.

The carrier announced on Monday that it would spend 11.88 billion yuan on aircraft and the rest on infrastructure improvement.

Some two dozen new planes, including eight A320s, seven A330s and nine B737s, will enter service this year. This will expand the fleet to 244 and help the airline deal with an anticipated visitor influx during the Olympics and Paralympics.

Air China, which is second in China by fleet size, served 280 routes (72 international), with 220 passenger and cargo planes in operation as of the end of 2007.

As to rising oil costs, Huang Bin, secretary of the airline's board of directors, said that the company would hedge 50 percent of its fuel costs this year.

Air China's net profits rose 30.37 percent last year and its ridership rose 10.59 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2008)