China’s big three state-owned airlines expect to report deeper first-half net losses than last year, mainly due to higher fuel prices as the war in the Middle East drags on.
In separate filings to the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges on July 14, China Southern Airlines, Air China, and China Eastern Airlines reported anticipated interim losses that add up to between RMB 7.37–8.97 billion (USD 1.1–1.3 billion).
This marks a substantial deterioration from the same period of 2025, when their aggregate net loss was RMB 4.86 billion (USD 717 million). The downturn is even more striking given that, in the first quarter of this year, each carrier had managed to return to a net profit of over RMB 1 billion (USD 147.5 million), adding up to RMB 4.82 billion (USD 711.1 million).
This implies that in the second quarter, the combined loss was anywhere from RMB 12.2–13.8 billion (USD 1.8–2.0 billion).
The swoon comes despite Chinese airlines having certain advantages for coping with the war. After the US and Israel struck Iran in February, upending global energy trade and disrupting key Middle East aviation hubs, Chinese carriers added thousands of flights to Europe to meet demand, leveraging their ability to fly more direct routes over Russia.
