China Eastern Airlines will boost its global market competitiveness to raise its international reputation, the carrier's chairman announced on Wednesday in New York.

Liu Shaoyong, chairman of China Eastern Airlines Company Limited, one of the country's three major state-owned carriers, made the remarks during a keynote speech at the China Business Initiative Forum organized by the Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business at Columbia Business School.

"China Eastern Airlines will further its global strategic deployment to continuously strengthen core profitability, raise management levels, improve operation quality and step up its exploration of the global market," Liu Shaoyong told Xinhua.

Liu said that China Eastern will formally join SkyTeam, the global airline alliance, in June, 2011. The company will also raise its cargo and passenger fleets to 561 aircraft by 2015 and keep a double-digit growth rate in the next five years.

Regarding the growing threat from high-speed railway lines, Liu said he was optimistic and confident, as the aviation industry still maintains the advantages of safety, comfort and low cost.

China Eastern made net profit of 5.38 billion yuan (807 million U.S. dollars) in 2010, far higher than 711 million yuan (106 million U.S. dollars) in 2009. It carries almost 70 million domestic and international passengers annually.