China's big 3 airlines warn of up to $6b in losses for 2020

While benefiting from a faster recovery in domestic travel than other international carriers, China's three big state-owned airlines warned Friday that they expect combined net losses of up to $6b for 2020. China Southern, China Eastern and Air China estimate net losses for last year to be between 31.2b yuan and 38.8b yuan ($4.85b and $6.03b), compared with profits of 12.2b yuan in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to separate announcements after trading hours. Despite faring better than many international peers in terms of passenger numbers, Chinese airlines were unable to avoid the red ink spilled by carriers worldwide in a year when pandemic-induced lockdowns froze travel. The Chinese aviation industry "faced unprecedented and severe challenges," Wang Jian, company secretary of China Eastern, said in a statement. "The market demand and willingness of passengers to travel have dropped significantly." The three airlines are dual listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Air China, the national flag carrier, served 68.69m passengers, a 40.3% decline. Story has more.<br/>