Chinese airlines achieved a total profit of 4.47 billion yuan in 2024, reversing the losses in the previous year and improving by 10.2 billion yuan, according to data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
A total of 20 passenger and cargo airlines, about half of Chinese airlines, were profitable in 2024, it said.
China’s civil aviation industry reduced losses by 20.6 billion yuan in 2024, turning from losses to profits, the CAAC had said earlier during the National Civil Aviation Work Conference. This data includes airlines, airports, and support enterprises.
That means the civil aviation industry achieved its first profit since the pandemic. During the three years of COVID-19, the industry accumulated losses of about 400 billion yuan and in 2023 alone, the losses were significantly reduced but still persisted.
During the first three quarter of 2024, the seven listed airlines, including the “big three state-owned airlines” — Air China (601111.SH), China Eastern Airlines (600115.SH), and China Southern Airlines (600029.SH) — reported a total revenue of 455.748 billion yuan and a net profit of about 9.544 billion yuan.
During the period, China Eastern Airlines significantly reduced its losses but still recorded a loss of 138 million yuan, while Air China and China Southern Airlines achieved profits of 1.362 billion yuan and 1.965 billion yuan, respectively. Among five privately operated airlines, Spring Airlines (601021.SH), Hainan Airlines (600221.SH), and Juneyao Airlines (603885.SH) earned profits of 2.604 billion yuan, 2.173 billion yuan, and 1.271 billion yuan, respectively.
However, only two of the seven listed airlines saw year-on-year profit growth in the first three quarters. Spring Airlines, the most profitable, recorded a 32.37% decline in net profit. Air China, China Eastern, and China Southern saw their net profit decline by 2.31%, 28.18%, and 23.89%, respectively.
A report released by Cirium in December 2024, stated that thanks to strong passenger traffic recovery and the revival of international tourism, Chinese airlines’ operating profits could improve in 2025, but the comprehensive operating profit margin of the “big three state-owned airlines” is only 1-2%.
The profit decline is partly due to an increase in passenger volume but a drop in prices last year. According to the CAAC, China’s passenger and cargo traffic both hit record highs, with 730 million passengers transported, rising by 17.9% year-on-year and growing by 10.6% from the 2019-level.
According to the CAAC, the average economy class ticket price fell by more than 10% in 2024 from the previous year, and the average revenue per kilometer slid 12.5% year-on-year.
Despite the record-high passenger numbers in 2024, the sluggish recovery of traditional intercontinental routes to Europe and the US led to an excess of wide-body aircraft capacity, which, whether deployed on international or domestic routes, caused fierce competition, squeezing profit margins and further lowering ticket prices, said a sources from the CCAA.
In addition, the aviation industry faces challenges in domestic markets from high-speed rail and insufficient demand, the person added.
Previously, China Eastern Airlines had also said in its financial report that the decline in net profit was due to intensified competition in the domestic passenger market, the unfulfilled recovery of some international routes, competition from high-speed railway, and fluctuations in oil prices.
Driven by cross-border e-commerce demand and tight capacity resources, the civil aviation cargo market saw increases in both volume and price. Data from the CAAC shows that cargo and mail transportation reached 8.982 million tons in 2024, up 22.1% year-on-year and rising 19.3% from 2019. Of that, international cargo and mail volumes increased by 29.3% year-on-year.
The CAAC said that the overall seat occupancy rate in the fourth quarter was 83.8%, an increase of 5.3 percentage points year-on-year and 2 percentage points higher than in 2019 and the full-year scheduled seat occupancy rate was 83.3%, up 5.4 percentage points from the previous year and 0.1 percentage points higher than in 2019.
For 2025, the average daily utilization of aircraft in 2025 is expected to reach 8.9 hours, an increase of 0.8 hours from the previous year, it said.
This year, the civil aviation industry aims to complete a total transportation turnover of 1.61 trillion ton-kilometers, transport 780 million passengers, and handle 9.5 million tons of cargo and mail, further improving the industry’s profitability, the CAAC added.