BEIJING China's three largest airlines remained in the red in the second quarter, although losses narrowed significantly from the previous three months as a recovery in the domestic aviation market gathered pace.
The suspension of three years of COVID curbs has delivered a jolt to China's tourism industry, with analysts forecasting that the biggest three state carriers could return to profit in the second half of this year, halted a run of deep losses.
Air China, the flag carrier of China, recorded a loss of 0.6 billion yuan in the second quarter, down from the previous quarter's 2.9 billion yuan.
China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd said its second quarter loss was 2.4 billion yuan, down from 3.8 billion yuan in the first quarter.
On Tuesday, China Southern Airlines Co Ltd reported a quarterly net loss of 1.0 billion yuan, compared to a net loss of 1.9 billion yuan in the first three months of the year.
HSBC Global Research forecasts that the three state-owned carriers would be able to generate10.4 billion yuan in profit in the second half of 2023, fueled by news China's lifting of pandemic-era limitations on group tours for more nations, as the recovery in international travel has been far more sluggish than domestic travel.
The problem of staffing for many global airlines that have limited the flying of more routes, and a sputtering domestic economy that is disabling many holidaying Chinese from spending large sums of money.
In contrast, domestic flight volumes have rebounded quickly in the first half, exceeding pre-COVID levels in 2019.
China Eastern, China's China-based airport, took delivery of its second C 919, the country's home-grown narrow-body passenger jet, in early August. Another three jets are expected to be delivered later this year, building up a fleet of five C 919s.