Due to the spread of the epidemic and high fuel prices, the total losses of the three major airlines in the first half of this year hit a new high.
As of the evening of August 30, China Southern Airlines Co., Ltd. (China Southern Airlines, 600029.SH), Air China Co., Ltd. (Air China, 601111.SH), China Eastern Airlines Co., Ltd. (China Eastern Airlines, 600115.SH) ) to announce the first half of 2022 report.
In the first half of this year, the revenue of the three major airlines totaled 84.124 billion yuan.
The revenue of China Southern Airlines, Air China and China Eastern Airlines was 40.817 billion yuan, 23.953 billion yuan, and 19.354 billion yuan, respectively, down 20.86%, 36.4%, and 44.24% year-on-year.
In the first half of the year, the net losses of the three major airlines doubled, with a total loss of 49.659 billion yuan. Among them, Air China had the highest net loss of 19.435 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 1.9 times year-on-year.
Secondly, China Eastern lost 18.736 billion yuan, with the highest loss year-on-year increase of nearly 2.6 times.
China Southern's net loss was 11.488 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 1.5 times year-on-year.
It is worth noting that the total loss of the three major airlines in the first half of this year of nearly 49.7 billion yuan has hit a new high, even higher than the total loss of the three major airlines last year.
According to the financial report, the total net loss attributable to shareholders of listed companies in the three major airlines last year amounted to 40.959 billion yuan.
As of the close on August 30, China Southern Airlines reported 6.51 yuan, up 0.15%; Air China reported 10.45 yuan, up 0.58%; China Eastern Airlines reported 4.91 yuan, up 1.87%.
Passenger revenue of the three major airlines fell by more than 30% to 50% year-on-year
In the first half of the year, due to the repeated impact of the epidemic, civil aviation transportation production fell to a trough.
According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, in the first half of 2022, the total turnover of my country's civil aviation transportation was 29.34 billion ton-kilometers, which was 46.7% of the same period in 2019, and the passenger traffic was 118 million, which was 36.7% of the same period in 2019. Combined with the sharp rise in oil prices and the exchange rate of RMB against the US dollar Affected by factors such as depreciation, the fuel costs and exchange losses of airlines have increased significantly, and the overall industry losses in the first half of 2022 will further expand compared with last year.
China Southern Airlines, Air China and China Eastern Airlines are my country's three major aviation state-owned enterprises, and their business volume accounts for half of the country.
In 2021, the total transportation turnover of the three major airlines and their subsidiaries will account for more than 60% of the total transportation turnover of each airline.
Focusing on specific passenger and cargo business, the revenue of the three major airlines in the first half of the year decreased year-on-year.
Among them, China Southern Airlines has the highest passenger revenue, reaching 26.732 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 32.65%.
Air China's passenger revenue was 15.104 billion yuan, and China Eastern Airlines' passenger revenue was the least at 13.899 billion yuan.
Among them, the passenger revenue of Air China and China Eastern Airlines both fell by more than 50% year-on-year.
In terms of cargo business, China Southern Airlines and Air China achieved year-on-year growth in cargo revenue, with China Southern Airlines' cargo revenue being the highest, reaching 11.143 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.68%.
China Southern Airlines said that the year-on-year increase in freight revenue was mainly due to the increase in the unit price of international freight and the increase in freight and mail revenue.
Air China's cargo revenue was 6.88 billion yuan, the highest year-on-year increase of 50.37%.
The revenue of China Eastern Airlines Cargo was 3.91 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.89%.
China Eastern said that from mid to late March to the end of May, the Shanghai market, where China Eastern's main base is located, broke out, and the number of passenger flights at Shanghai Hongqiao and Pudong airports decreased sharply, which had a serious impact on China Eastern's production and operation. Since June, the company's flight volume has increased. Gradually restore the trend.
In terms of debt structure, as of June 30 this year, the total debt of China Southern Airlines Group was 249.764 billion yuan, an increase of 4.63% from the beginning of the period.
The total liabilities of Air China Group were 254.695 billion yuan, an increase of 9.52% over the end of the previous year.
The total liabilities of China Eastern Airlines amounted to 254.992 billion yuan, an increase of 10.08% over the end of the previous year.
The three major aviation fuel costs exceed 30 billion yuan
In the first half of the year, the three major airlines achieved remarkable results in lean management and control, and their operating costs all fell year-on-year.
Among them, the operating cost of China Southern Airlines was 19.455 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4.65%.
The operating cost of China Eastern Airlines was 33.959 billion yuan, the highest year-on-year decrease of 14.36%.
Air China's operating costs were 38.3 billion yuan, down 8.05% year-on-year.
In its semi-annual report, China Eastern pointed out that in response to the uncertainty of the impact of the epidemic, it negotiated with suppliers to delay fleet delivery; by establishing a high-frequency data monitoring and tracking statistical mechanism and a supervision mechanism, it promoted quantifiable and efficient cost control and continued to promote food, Purchasing and other costs have been reduced; through the continuous implementation of fuel-saving and refined management measures such as aircraft weight reduction and route optimization, fuel consumption has been continuously reduced. In the first half of the year, the company's fuel consumption per ton-kilometer decreased by 2.6% year-on-year.
In the first half of this year, the accumulated simulation income of quality improvement and efficiency increase was about 380 million yuan.
The cost of jet fuel is one of the most important expenses for airlines.
Significant fluctuations in the level of international oil prices will have a greater impact on the price of jet fuel and the airline's fuel surcharge income, which in turn will affect the company's operating performance.
In the first half of the year, the three major aviation fuel costs totaled 33.703 billion yuan, accounting for more than 1/4 of the operating costs.
Among them, China Southern has the highest jet fuel cost, reaching 14.395 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.69%.
Air China's fuel cost was 10.348 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.37%.
China Eastern's jet fuel cost was 8.96 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 8.32%.
The fuel cost of China Eastern Airlines decreased year-on-year, mainly due to the decrease in the company's flight volume, the fuel volume decreased by 44.91% year-on-year, and the cost of aviation fuel decreased by 4.650 billion yuan; due to the increase in crude oil prices, the average aviation oil price increased by 57.10% year-on-year, increasing the cost of jet fuel by 3.257 billion yuan; In the same period last year, the Company reduced the cost of jet fuel by RMB 580 million through jet fuel hedging transactions.
After excluding the jet fuel hedging factor in the same period of the previous year, the jet fuel cost decreased by 13.46% year-on-year.
Assuming that the consumption of fuel remains unchanged, for every 10% increase or decrease in the average fuel price during the reporting period, the operating costs of China Southern Group will increase or decrease by RMB 1.44 billion during the reporting period.
If the average jet fuel price rises or falls by 5%, Air China Group's jet fuel cost will rise or fall by about RMB 517 million.
China Eastern's jet fuel costs will rise or fall by about 448 million yuan.
In order to reduce the risk of jet fuel price fluctuations to a certain extent and ensure the operation of the airline company, starting from 2009, the airline company can independently determine the fuel surcharge charging standard for domestic flight passengers within the specified scope.
In the past six months, the international oil price has fluctuated several times, and the fuel surcharge for domestic routes has resumed collection from February this year. Since then, the fuel surcharge has continued to rise to a record high every month.
Starting from August 5 this year, the fuel surcharge for air tickets has been lowered for the first time this year to 80 yuan/140 yuan.
Airlines may still be under pressure in the second half of the year, but the civil aviation industry as a whole is recovering
In the first half of the year, the number of flights in the civil aviation domestic passenger market rebounded from the bottom in April 2022, showing a recovery momentum, but operational efficiency indicators such as passenger turnover, passenger load factor, and unit revenue have not yet returned to pre-epidemic levels.
Regarding the summer transport market in July and August this year, civil aviation expert Li Hanming told The Paper that this year's summer transport market was the same as last year, showing a trend of highs and lows due to the spread of epidemics across the country.
Although the flight volume gradually recovered in the first half of July, it still did not reach the level of last year; and since late July, sporadic outbreaks across the country further affected flights to many popular tourist destinations.
According to the data of the third-party civil aviation data APP "Flight Manager", from July 1 to August 14 this year, the number of passenger flights performed was 460,000, a year-on-year decrease of 7.1%. A 14.4% decline in 2021.
The summer travel is coming to an end. Even due to the local epidemic situation in popular tourist destinations such as Sanya and Tibet, it still maintains more than 10,000 flights per day. In terms of passenger volume, the single-day passenger transportation volume remains at one million.
"The first half of this year was the hardest hit for the civil aviation industry. The industry lost more than 90 billion yuan in half a year, more than the full-year loss in any past year. However, many positive factors show that the civil aviation industry is recovering, at least in the second half of this year. It's definitely better than the first half of the year." Civil aviation expert Lin Zhijie told The Paper.
Lin Zhijie told the surging news reporter that international flights are recovering in an orderly manner. At present, international flights are an important pillar for the industry to reduce losses. The industry has experienced more than a dozen rounds of international flights. Coupled with the shortening of entry quarantine time, the circuit breaker policy for flights has also It is gradually optimized, so the international market will bring better support to the industry.
In addition, oil prices have fallen, helping to ease the cost burden on airlines.
Regarding the business plan for the second half of this year, China Southern said that due to high oil prices and great pressure on airlines to operate, IATA expects the global air transport industry to remain at a loss in 2022, with a net loss of US$9.7 billion in 2022. .
China Southern Airlines Group will flexibly adjust its marketing strategies, continue to do a good job in cargo operations, and take various measures to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
The Company will flexibly adjust capacity allocation, increase flights on international passenger routes, coordinate the use of passenger and cargo crew resources, and strengthen the development of transit cargo sources and international return-haul sales.