China Eastern Airlines is estimated to lose 405 million yuan (US$58 million) in revenue this year after the country's aviation watchdog cut its routes and reduced its flight frequencies after its pilots aborted flights in protest at working conditions in the so-called ''no arrival'' scandal.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China will suspend the carrier from flying two routes in southwestern Yunnan Province from Sunday. It has already cut the number of flights on six Yunnan routes the airline operates by between two and six daily from last Saturday.

"The suspension will cost the company 187 million yuan this year and other adjusted routes will cost it 218 million yuan," the carrier said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday.

Last year, China Eastern, the country's third-largest carrier, made 660 million yuan in revenue on these routes, accounting for 1.52 percent of its main business income, the statement said. The carrier said it would use the idle aircraft on other routes and seek government permission to resume flying the suspended routes as soon as possible.

The aviation regulator will give the carrier's Yunnan routes to four rivals °?- Air China, Shenzhen Airlines, Lucky Air and China West Air - from Sunday.

China Eastern will also face a fine of 1.5 million yuan for its part in the controversy.

In a separate statement, the carrier said it earned 211 million yuan in profit in the first quarter, versus a 510.9-million-yuan loss a year earlier, and its revenue rose 14 percent to 10.6 billion yuan.

It attributed the growth to currency-exchange gains, which cut the value of its US dollar-denominated debt, and a 4.8 percent rise in passenger traffic in the period.

Meanwhile, Hainan Airlines, the country's fourth-largest carrier, also told the Shanghai bourse that its first-quarter profit surged 460 percent to 286.7 million yuan, or 0.08 yuan per share, and revenue rose 3.4 percent to 3.57 billion yuan on a stronger yuan.

The carrier, backed by American billionaire George Soros, plans to boost passenger volume by 16 percent to 16.75 million this year.

(Shanghai Daily April 30, 2008)