China’s big three state-owned airlines are lagging behind as domestic and Asian competitors dramatically improve their bottom lines following the end of COVID-19 travel restrictions, reports Nikkei Asia. China Southern Airlines, Air China and China Eastern Airlines recently logged total net losses of RMB 13.3 billion ($1.87 billion) for 2023, even though aggregate revenue jumped more than twofold on the year to RMB 427.6 billion as each one beat its pre-pandemic figure. All three have now posted net losses for four straight years.
Their struggles to return to the black stand in sharp contrast to smaller domestic rivals as well as regional peers.
Three Shanghai-listed second-tier carriers—Hainan Airlines, Spring Airlines and Juneyao Airlines—have yet to report their full-year results but issued profit guidance saying that they would post positive net figures between RMB 300 million and RMB 2.4 billion for 2023. That would improve on the smaller trio’s RMB 27.4 billion in aggregate net losses for 2022. And it would put them well above the big three’s losses for 2023, which ranged from RMB 1 billion to over RMB 8 billion.