Air China, the country's leading air carrier, said Thursday its first half profit jumped over 60 percent year on year due to booming demand for air travel and air freight.

Net profits totaled 4.69 billion yuan (675 million U.S. dollars) and earnings per share stood at 0.41 yuan, up 64 percent year on year, the company said in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The Beijing-based carrier said revenues from its passenger operations rose 47.76 percent to 29.4 billion yuan, while that from cargo operations jumped 109.07 percent to 4.13 billion yuan.

Additionally, the company said its profit surge was largely due to rising demand for air traffic services as the global economy recovered from the recession and the national economy maintained its relatively fast growth during the first half of the year.

Shares of the carrier on the Shanghai bourse rose 0.61 percent to 11.46 yuan Thursday.