The carrier booked full-year earnings of US$48 million – reversing a loss of US$705 million the year before.
Passenger numbers increased by nearly 14% to 66.3 million.
The airline’s 2009 passenger load factor, or the proportion of seats filled on each flight, rose by 2% to 75.3%, while its freight business increased 3% last year.
China Southern said it expects the strong momentum to continue this year, with double-digit growth forecast for both passenger and cargo volumes.
It also noted that a stronger yuan will boost its bottomline, given its large foreign debt.
Channel News Asia reported that Xu Jiebo, CEO, China Southern, said: "In fact, if the renminbi were to appreciate by one per cent, it’s going to be our currency exchange gain – that is, 500 million yuan for a one per cent gain in the renminbi value."