Chinese airlines report improving business revenue in first half year, overseas flight routes expansion widely expected

Chinese airlines continue to show strong interest in expanding their global market presence, with some carriers doubling their overseas traffic volumes, and market watchers said that the airlines will maintain a fast recovery pace for flying international routes. 

Data released by the information provider VariFlight on Sunday showed that the actual number of passenger flights on overseas routes carried by Chinese airlines was 130,000 in the just concluded two-months' summer travel rush ended on Saturday, an increase of 59 percent year-on-year in 2023, recovering to more than 70 percent of the corresponding period in 2019. 

The data could be lifted further given the concrete measures taken by the airlines, and rising overseas travel demand, Gong Yiting, head of branding department of VariFlight told the Global Times. 

The remarks came after Chinese airlines reported narrowed losses in the released fiscal reports of the first half of this year brought by the rising demand, highlighting a stable recovery of the aviation industry. 

In detail, the revenues of the three major airlines - Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines - reached 228.509 billion yuan ($32.22 billion) in the first half of this year, led by China Southern, which loss was narrowed by more than half. 

Air China and China Eastern Airlines reported revenues of 79.52 billion yuan and 64.199 billion yuan, respectively, with year-on-year increases of over 30 percent and nearly 30 percent. Each airline's net losses narrowed by nearly 20 percent and over 50 percent year-on-year than the same period of last year, per fiscal reports. 

In addition, the total revenue of four private carriers of Hainan Airlines, Spring Airlines, Juneyao Airlines and China Express in the first half of the year exceeded 50 billion yuan, and net profit totaled 1.24 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, the international air passenger transport market saw continued rapid recovery in the first half of the year. 

Data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China showed that the recovery level for five consecutive months since February this year has exceeded 80 percent of the same period in 2019.

Airlines have also continued to make efforts to grow international routes, such as China Southern said on Friday that its overseas flights have recovered to about 80 percent of the same period in 2019, and it will strive to fully resume routes from Guangzhou to Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.

Spring Airlines reported that the recovery rate for its Japanese routes is nearly 100 percent. The airline currently flies to eight destinations in Japan, surpassing the peak levels of 2019.

Airlines are also actively planning their expansion plans for the whole year. Hainan Airlines said it will strive to restore the weekly flight volume of international routes to 100 percent of the average weekly flight volume of international routes in 2019.

Juneyao Airlines said it achieved a growth rate of more than 20 percent compared with the same period in 2019 in terms of the overseas traffic, and it will continue to expand its operations in the Southeast Asian and European markets.