The Chinese aviation industry is likely to recover this year, experts claim after easing of pandemic restrictions. Three of China’s biggest airlines Air China, China Eastern Airlines, and China Southern Airlines have posted record loss of over $15.9 bn in 2022. But good days are here to come.
Air China recorded a net loss of almost 133% higher than previous year to close 2022 at $5.6bn. The airline has attributed the loss to various factors like low tourism needs, high oil prices, and exchange rate fluctuations. The airline recorded a 29% slump in revenue to close at CNY52.9 billion.
In the past three years, Air China has reported combined losses of nearly 70 billion yuan, according to a Reuters.
China Eastern had a net loss of CNY37.4 billion last year, widening over 200% from 2021, the airline said in a statement. The airline’s revenue plunged 31% to CNY46.1 billion.
China Southern's net loss expanded 170% to CNY32.7 billion, while the revenue dropped 14.5% to CNY87.1 billion.
Air China and China Eastern noted that competition pressures in China's aviation market will ease to some extent this year with the sustained recovery and improvements of domestic market needs.
In 2022, China's passenger traffic fell 42.9% to 252 million people according to the data from the Ministry of Transport.
Meanwhile experts claim that the demand in Chinese civil aviation circles will be resilient and lead to supply chain issues causing a huge surge in ticket prices and fuel the rebound in airline performance. Also, experts are of the opinion that there is accelerated growth post Spring festival holiday and with the airlines performing well during off-season, chances are the airlines will recover really well during peak travel season.