China Eastern Airlines said late Tuesday that its net profits for the first half year of 2016 fell 9.29% from a year earlier, due to the weakening of the Chinese yuan against the U.S. dollar.

Total revenue for the six months ended June 30 rose 4.56% to 46.3 billion, while operating expenses rose 2.56% to 42 billion yuan, as rises in airport charges, wages and maintenance costs outweighed a 21% decrease in fuel expenses, the Shanghai-based carrier said in a stock exchange statement.

The airline's first-half net profit fell 9.3% to 3.2 billion yuan primarily due to an increase in net exchange losses recognized during the reporting period brought by an appreciation of USD against RMB." Basic earnings per share stood at 0.246 yuan per share.

In the first six months of 2016, China Eastern handeled a total of 48.85 million passengers and 398,000 aircraft movements, up 9% percent and 7.2% over the same period last year, respectively.

Passenger capacity across the group increased 15%, while RPKs increased by 15.5%, resulting in passenger load factor strengthening marginally to 80.8%. Passenger yield fell 8.24% to 0.51 yuan, primarily driven by a 15.8% fall in international yield.

Over the six months, China Eastern took delivery of 42 new aircraft mainly Boeing 777-300ER, 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft, while 12 old ones were retired leaving it with a total fleet of 581 aircraft (556 passenger jets, nine freighters and 16 business jets)at the end of June 30.

During the second half of 2016, China Eastern plans to take delivery of 30 new aircraft including two Boeing 777-300ERs, 4 Airbus A320s and 14 737s, while it will also phase out four A320s, six 737s and four Embraer ERJ-145s. Meanwhile, the airline is scheduled to receive 52 and 66 new aircraft in next two years, with the retirement of 19 and 15 old planes, respectively. In 2019, 146 new planes will added to the fleet of China Eastern, while 10 will be deposed.