Outstanding monthly turnover reports drove up the prices of China Airlines (CAL) and EVA Airways' stocks that day.

According to CAL, the company's balance sheet has gone from red to black since late September, when air cargo shipment rates soared to 70 percent and continued to rise.

To meet increasing demand, it said, CAL put two mothballed cargo planes back into use in October and service of a third mothballed plane is scheduled to resume by early December.

In addition, it went on, fares for air cargo transport have soared by 40 percent since September -- also helping shore up the company's overall business turnover for October.

Meanwhile, EVA Airways also reported positive growth in its monthly business turnover in October, thanks to rising air cargo business since the end of the third quarter.

"Business became even hotter in November, with the number of flights across the Taiwan Strait failing to meet booking requirements," EVA Airways said.

Increased air cargo fares for U.S. and European routes, up between 10 percent and 15 percent in recent days, have prompted the company to forecast an even brighter future for the fourth quarter.

CAL posted an after-tax deficit of NT$2.619 billion (US$81.1 million) in Q3, with its EPS (earnings per share) standing at negative NT$0.78, while EVA Airways's after-tax deficit totaled NT$2.219 billion, with an EPS of negative NT$0.95.

As a result of the global economic meltdown that began in late 2008, CAL posted an after-tax deficit of NT$4.985 billion for the first three quarters of this year, compared to EVA Airways' deficit of NT$3.901 billion for the same period.

(By Lawrence Chiu and Deborah Kuo)