China's top airlines post record annual losses, outlook brighter

China's flagship carrier Air China posted record annual losses of 38.6b yuan ($5.61b) on Thursday as the country's now-abandoned zero-COVID policy led to a plunge in demand. Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines on Thursday said it had lost a record 37.4b yuan in 2022, wider than its 2021 loss of 12.2b yuan. Analysts forecast a return to profit for China's leading airlines this year now that restrictions have eased. Domestic flight numbers have exceeded 2019 levels since the middle of this month, according to data firm Flight Master, while international flight numbers to and from China were at about 30% of pre-pandemic levels this week, up from around 10% at the start of the year. China Southern Airlines Tuesday reported a record annual loss of 32.7b yuan, wider than the 12.1b yuan loss in 2021. But the Guangzhou-based airline's management team afterwards told analysts it expected passenger demand to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels in the domestic market by May and international capacity to reach 40% of 2019 levels by the peak summer season, Daiwa analyst Kelvin Lau said in a note to clients. The record 38.6b yuan loss for 2022 of Beijing-based Air China more than doubled from the loss of 16.6b yuan in 2021, when there were fewer COVID-related lockdowns.<br/>