The three big airlines in China have predicted losses of over $14.8 bn for 2022 due to pandemic, high fuel prices and depreciation of the yuan against the US dollar.
Air China predicted that the loss would be around 37 to 39.7 billion yuan, followed by China Eastern Airlines' loss of 36 to 39 billion yuan, and China Southern Airlines' loss of 30 to 33.2 billion yuan for 2022. These figures would bring the total losses for last year to 103 billion yuan which is 1.5 times higher than that of 2021.
Citing obvious reasons for the losses, the airlines said that impact of the pandemic led to decline in passenger numbers followed by high international oil prices. If that was not enough, the depreciation of the yuan against the US dollar further aggravated cost pressure.
Meanwhile, the airlines confirmed that they are taking different measures including strict cost controls to minimize the negative impact of the epidemic.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has reported that the aviation industry will strive to recover to about 75% of the pre-pandemic levels. While this seems far-fetched, the Chinese civil aviation industry has shown a slightly positive trend with re-opening of borders and lifting of pandemic restrictions.
According to CAAC, the Spring festival holidays data showed that 9 million passengers travelled by air from January 21 to 27, 2023.