The three major China airlines have notified investors that the financial performance of the whole year 2020 may be seriously affected by the spread of COVID-19. Only China Southern had a positive update to share.
The Three Major Airline Alliance companies (Air China, China Southern Airlines, and China Eastern Airlines) released their third-quarter financial reports late last week. China Southern Airlines was the only one among them that return to profitability in Q3 2020 and gained CNY 711 million net profit attributable to shareholders. Air China and China Eastern Airlines, by contrast, reported net losses attributable to shareholders of CNY 671 million and CNY 563 million respectively.
For the first three quarters of 2020, China Southern Airlines ranked number one among the three companies in revenue as well, which is CNY 65.35 billion. Air China and China Eastern Airlines, by contrast, reported revenue of CNY 48.45 billion and CNY 42.30 billion respectively. For the operating cash flow from January to September, China Southern Airlines reported CNY 3.98 billion, China Eastern Airlines reported CNY 98 million, while Air China still reported a negative CNY 1.79 billion.
Meanwhile, the three China leading airline companies all made similar announcements and noticed investors about the likelihood that the financial performance of the whole year 2020 is due to prove dispiriting. Owing to positive anti-epidemic measures, national businesses did recover gradually in Q3 2020. However, the situation for international businesses is still challenging. China Southern Airlines, in particular, announced that the company would reduce the impact as much as possible by further controlling operating costs and finding potential business opportunities.