China's top airlines post losses amid slow international travel
Adds China Eastern H1 losses in paragraph 3 and 4
BEIJING, Aug 30 (Reuters) -China's leading state-owned airlines posted losses in the first half of the year, weighed down by a slower-than-expected rebound in international travel, domestic oversupply, and more intense competition as aviation capacity returns globally.
China's top three airlines - Air China 601111.SS, China Southern Airlines 600029.SS and China Eastern Airlines 600115.SS - last reported annual net profits in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
China Eastern, headquartered in Shanghai, reported a first-half loss of 2.8 billion yuan ($395 million) on Friday, compared with a loss of 6.2 billion in the same six months of last year.
"Ticket prices in the domestic market have decreased year-on-year ... due to intensified competition in the domestic passenger transportation market, lower-than-expected recovery of some international markets, as well as the competition from high-speed rail," it said in a filing.
The country's flagship carrier Air China posted a first-half net loss of 2.78 billion yuan, narrower than a loss of 3.45 billion in the same period last year, it said on Thursday.
China Southern Airlines reported a net loss of 1.23 billion yuan in the first half, narrowing from a 2.9 billion loss a year earlier. The Guangzhou-based airline made a 760 million yuan profit in the first quarter.
Air China said international traffic grew in the first half, with passenger numbers above 80% of 2019's pre-pandemic levels. But it said its traditionally "advantageous" North American routes were recovering slowly.
LOW DEMAND
Flights between China and the United States have been held up by political issues and low demand and are around a fifth of what they were in 2019, flight schedule data from Cirium and China-based aviation data provider VariFlight show.
"As international routes are not resumed fully, wide-body planes are used domestically, intensifying oversupply," Air China said.
Outbound traffic from China has been growing since pandemic-related restrictions were lifted as 2023 began, but the recovery in overseas travel is lagging behind market expectations due to a faltering economy and a turn toward domestic travel.
In July there were 23% fewer flights out of China than in the same month of 2019, while the number of domestic flights was 15% higher, Cirium data shows, though Chinese airlines are gaining international market share against foreign rivals.
Airlines globally are seeing softening fares and profitability as planes return to the sky and a global imbalance between seats and travel demand evens out.
HSBC analysts said in a June note they expected China outbound travel to continue recovering as air capacity and visa requirements improve, "but the domestic travel market may face pressure as tourists go overseas".
Air China and China Southern this week became the second and third Chinese carriers to start operating China's homegrown COMAC C919 passenger jet.
($1 = 7.0870 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reporting by Sophie Yu in Beijing and Lisa Barrington in Seoul; Editing by Jamie Freed and David Holmes
면책조항: XM Group 회사는 체결 전용 서비스와 온라인 거래 플랫폼에 대한 접근을 제공하여, 개인이 웹사이트에서 또는 웹사이트를 통해 이용 가능한 콘텐츠를 보거나 사용할 수 있도록 허용합니다. 이에 대해 변경하거나 확장할 의도는 없습니다. 이러한 접근 및 사용에는 다음 사항이 항상 적용됩니다: (i) 이용 약관, (ii) 위험 경고, (iii) 완전 면책조항. 따라서, 이러한 콘텐츠는 일반적인 정보에 불과합니다. 특히, 온라인 거래 플랫폼의 콘텐츠는 금융 시장에서의 거래에 대한 권유나 제안이 아닙니다. 금융 시장에서의 거래는 자본에 상당한 위험을 수반합니다.
온라인 거래 플랫폼에 공개된 모든 자료는 교육/정보 목적으로만 제공되며, 금융, 투자세 또는 거래 조언 및 권고, 거래 가격 기록, 금융 상품 또는 원치 않는 금융 프로모션의 거래 제안 또는 권유를 포함하지 않으며, 포함해서도 안됩니다.
이 웹사이트에 포함된 모든 의견, 뉴스, 리서치, 분석, 가격, 기타 정보 또는 제3자 사이트에 대한 링크와 같이 XM이 준비하는 콘텐츠 뿐만 아니라, 제3자 콘텐츠는 일반 시장 논평으로서 "현재" 기준으로 제공되며, 투자 조언으로 여겨지지 않습니다. 모든 콘텐츠가 투자 리서치로 해석되는 경우, 투자 리서치의 독립성을 촉진하기 위해 고안된 법적 요건에 따라 콘텐츠가 의도되지 않았으며, 준비되지 않았다는 점을 인지하고 동의해야 합니다. 따라서, 관련 법률 및 규정에 따른 마케팅 커뮤니케이션이라고 간주됩니다. 여기에서 접근할 수 있는 앞서 언급한 정보에 대한 비독립 투자 리서치 및 위험 경고 알림을 읽고, 이해하시기 바랍니다.
