By XUE Bingbing
China’s three largest private carriers Spring Airlines, Juneyao Air and China Express Airlines face a total deficit of 4.3 billion yuan (US$636 million) in H1. All three turned a profit in H1 last year.
Juneyao Airlines is expected to lose as much as 1.9 billion yuan. The company said Covid across China had dampened demand. In April and May, the lockdown in Shanghai, where Juneyao is headquartered, reduced domestic flights to next to zero.
Spring, also based in Shanghai, is looking at a 1.2-billion-yuan loss. “Most of our flights take off from Hongqiao or Pudong airports,” the company told the media. “The outbreak brought us to a halt.”
In April, the daily utilization of Spring Airlines was only 2.1 hours, which means each plane was in the clouds for only two hours a day. In 2019, the number was 11 hours.
China Express Airlines, based in Chongqing, is slightly better off. It is estimated to lose at least 850 million yuan. Besides the Covid situation, the airline highlighted the rise of aviation fuel and the US dollar.
The civil aviation industry lost 109 billion yuan in H1, exceeding the losses of 2020 and 2021 combined. Before 2020, the industry had made money for 11 years in a row.
