Chinese airlines reported higher earnings in the first three
quarters of this year compared with the same period last year
thanks to a stronger yuan and decrease in fuel expenses, the
Shanghai Securities News said today.
Airlines and airports earned a combined profit of 13.7 billion
yuan in the period, said China's General Administration of Civil
Aviation of China on its Website yesterday.
The average load factor between January and September was 76
percent.
Hainan Airlines Co, China's fourth-biggest carrier, said profit
probably rose more than 90 percent in the first nine months of the
year in its statement to Shanghai's stock exchange today.
Hainan's net income was 213 million yuan (US$28 million) in the
first nine months of 2006, it said. The airline is scheduled to
report earnings on October 31.
China Southern Airlines Co, the country's biggest carrier by
fleet size, said yesterday its third-quarter profit rose 49 percent
to 1.88 billion yuan.
The carrier, which flies about a third of air passengers in
China, plans to expand its fleet 22 percent this year, adding 68
planes to the 309 it had at the end of 2006.
The airline also announced an order for 10 Airbus SAS A330-200s
late yesterday. These planes, alongside 20 A320s and 80 Boeing Co
737s that are awaiting delivery, will raise the carrier's capacity
43 percent, it said.
Air China, the nation's largest carrier, and China Eastern, the
third-biggest, are due to report earnings early next week.
China's airlines are expected to handle 185 million passengers
this year, 16 percent more than a year earlier, according to the
administration.
(Shanghai Daily October 25, 2007)
