China Eastern Airlines Co., Ltd, one of China's leading carriers, Monday reported a net profit of 540 million yuan (79 million U.S. dollars) last year on lower operating costs.

Net profits jumped 103.88 percent year on year from a 14-billion-yuan loss in 2008.

Revenues hit 39.83 billion yuan, down 4.81 percent from a year earlier.

Earnings per share rose 102.93 percent to 0.084 yuan, according to its annual report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The Shanghai-based carrier attributed its profit growth to lower operating costs.

The report said the company spent 12.26 billion yuan on fuel in the past year, a drop of 33.71 percent from the previous year. The main reason for the decline in fuel spending lay in the fact that the average price of aviation fuel dropped 38.8 percent last year.

The company also cut a number of long-distance international flights to save costs last year when international demand fell greatly amid the global financial crisis, said the report.

The company's stock fell 5.01 percent to 8.53 yuan per share Monday.