China's civil aviation industry moved out of the red and began to report overall profits in 2009, according to Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

Civil aviation firms reported total profits of 12.2 billion yuan (1.79 billion U.S. dollars), compared with 2008's losses of 26 billion yuan, said Wang Changshun, deputy director of the CAAC, at a national civil aviation conference on Wednesday.

Profits of the country's airline companies stood at 7.4 billion yuan in 2009, compared with losses of 31.8 billion yuan in 2008. Profits of airports nationwide were 3 billion yuan, 500 million yuan less than that in 2008.

Last year, 230 million journeys were made by air in China, representing an increase of 19.7 percent from 2008.