Air China warns of 'short term' loss from outbreak

Air China has joined a growing list of airlines in warning of an operating loss “in the short term”, as the coronavirus outbreak continues to wreak havoc. Discussing the outlook for 2020 in its full-year results, the Air China group noted the impact that the outbreak has had on passenger travel demand. This was particularly so after the Lunar New Year, in late-January, when it saw domestic travel demand plummet. “Global travel restriction has also reduced the demand for international routes,” it adds. “[A] loss may be incurred inevitably in the short term,” the carrier said, but did not elaborate. To mitigate the outbreak’s impact, Air China says it is working to optimise capacity resource distribution, strengthen its cost control and improve its yield management. For 2019, Air China posted a full-year profit of CNY14.6b, an increase of 2.1% year-on-year. The carrier is the only Chinese carrier so far to have raised the red flag on the outbreak’s impact on profitability — compatriots China Southern and China Eastern, in their respective annual results discussion, did not offer any similar insights. <br/>