China Eastern Airlines Corp., the nation's third-largest carrier, received a 17.6 billion yuan (US$2.1 billion) credit line from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to expand, the Shanghai Morning Post reported.

Shanghai-based China Eastern this month agreed to buy 40 percent of smaller rival Wuhan Airlines Co. for about 300 million yuan to expand its market in western China. China Eastern also is in talks to buy a stake in Sichuan Airlines Co. As of December 31, 2000, China Eastern had 21.6 billion yuan of debt and 29 billion yuan of assets. The airline is expected to release 2001 earnings on April 8.

(eastday.com March 27, 2002)