TAIPEI : China Airlines (CAL), one of Taiwan's leading international carriers, said Saturday it has cut its monthly flights by 10 percent to combat rising oil prices.

CAL has cut some 100 passenger flights and about 50 cargo flights from June.

"High oil prices have imposed great impact on CAL's profitability. The flight reductions will continue until oil prices fall to an acceptable level," CAL spokesman Bruce Chen said.

While the cuts have impacted most of CAL's routes, flights to Europe remain unaffected "as fares of the European routes are in favour of the carrier," Chen said.

Due to rising fuel costs, China Airlines posted 2.97 billion Taiwan dollars (97.7 million US) in net loss for the first quarter to March after recording a 2.52 billion dollars net loss for 2007.

- AFP /ls