{"id":4575,"date":"2023-04-02T11:27:25","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T11:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=4575"},"modified":"2023-04-02T11:27:25","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T11:27:25","slug":"big-3-chinese-airlines-post-record-2022-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=4575","title":{"rendered":"Big 3 Chinese Airlines Post Record 2022 Losses"},"content":{"rendered":"

The old saying that the chickens always come home to roost could well apply to China’s Big 3 airlines. While it is great they are back in the air and surging ahead, the massive lockdown-induced losses are only now being revealed.<\/p>\n

Time to get back in the air<\/h2>\n

Last week Reuters reported that the Big 3 of\u00a0Chinese aviation, Air China, China Eastern and China Southern, all reported record annual losses in 2022. The three airlines made a combined loss of $15.8 billion in 2022, nearly three times the $5.9 billion they lost in 2021.<\/p>\n

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\"China<\/picture><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Photo:\u00a0KITTIKUN YOKSAP\u00a0\/ Shutterstock<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

China’s flag carrier,\u00a0Air China<\/a>, was the worst performer posting a 2022 loss of $5.6 billion, more than twice the $2.4 billion it lost in 2021. While there were some periods during COVID when domestic travel resumed, overall, Air China has posted combined losses of nearly $10 billion in the last three years.<\/p>\n

The losses were even starker at\u00a0China Eastern<\/a>\u00a0and China Southern, soaring to around three times what they lost in 2021. China Eastern posted a loss of $5.4 billion in 2022, compared to $1.8 billion in 2021, while\u00a0China Southern<\/a>\u00a0lost $4.8 billion compared to $1.7 billion the previous year.<\/p>\n

It is unsurprising that any Chinese airline made significant losses during the pandemic, and with the country enduring severe lockdowns, even domestic carriers suffered.<\/p>\n

The good news is that\u00a0domestic passenger<\/a>\u00a0numbers are now exceeding 2019 levels. Although international traffic has only restarted this year, it is also on the way back, now at around 30% of pre-COVID levels. Based on this speedy recovery since restrictions were lifted at the end of 2022, Reuters said analysts predicted China’s leading airlines would be profitable this year.<\/p>\n

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\"China<\/picture><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Photo: aappp | Shutterstock<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

China Southern echoed that positive outlook telling analysts that it expected passenger demand to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels in the domestic market by May and reach 40% of 2019 levels by the peak summer season.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

CAAC’s numbers tell the story<\/h2>\n

Looking at the official statistics released by the\u00a0Civil Aviation Administration of China<\/a>\u00a0(CAAC), it’s apparent how these losses came about. CAAC’s figures show that in 2022 passenger numbers reached 252 million, 43% fewer than in 2021. The numbers also paint a brilliant picture of COVID’s impact on travel patterns, with 99.3% of 2022 passengers traveling on domestic flights.<\/p>\n

Less than two million passengers traveled on international routes, up 26% compared to 2020. The CAAC classifications also measure Flight Efficiency, which showed that in 2022 the\u00a0passenger load factor<\/a>\u00a0was 67%, falling from 73% in 2021. Aircraft usage in China also declined in 2022, falling from seven hours per day in 2021 to four hours per day last year.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, most travel restrictions were lifted before the Chinese New Year holidays between January 21-27. Chinese airlines carried nine million passengers on 83,844 flights that week, an 80% increase year-on-year, at a load factor of 76%.<\/p>\n

CAAC reported that this was possible because the airlines\u00a0“learned and implemented earnestly the instructions made by President Xi Jinping on the transport of passengers during the festival.”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The old saying that the chickens always come home to roost could well apply to China’s Big 3 airlines. While it is great they are back in the air and surging ahead, the massive lockdown-induced losses are only now being revealed. Time to get back in the air Last week Reuters reported that the Big …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4576,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[102,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-en","category-flights"],"yoast_head":"\nBig 3 Chinese Airlines Post Record 2022 Losses - aviation news<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=4575\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Big 3 Chinese Airlines Post Record 2022 Losses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The old saying that the chickens always come home to roost could well apply to China’s Big 3 airlines. 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