In 2021, CAAC completed 85.7 billion ton kilometers, 440 million person times and 7.32 million tons of total transportation turnover, passenger transportation and cargo and mail transportation, with a year-on-year increase of 7.3, 5.5 and 8.2 percentage points, respectively, to 66.3%, 66.8% and 97.2% in 2019.
This is the data disclosed at the 2022 national civil aviation work conference held on January 10.
At the beginning of 2021, the Civil Aviation Administration of China had predicted that the passenger traffic volume in 2021 could return to 90% of that before the epidemic. The data released today also means that the actual performance of civil aviation in 2021 is far from meeting expectations.
loss in peak season exceeds 10 billion
2021 is the second year that the covid-19 epidemic continues and the second year that the civil aviation industry has suffered heavy losses.
The continuous epidemic situation and mutated virus have once again hit the civil aviation of China, which has begun to recover. Two consecutive spring and summer transportation, which should have been the traditional peak season, ended ahead of schedule because of the local epidemic outbreak in some areas.
The impact of the disappearing spring and summer transportation is also directly reflected in the performance statements of airlines. The third quarter of this year was originally the traditional peak season of civil aviation, but most Chinese airlines recorded losses. Ten Chinese airlines, including Xiamen Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines, suffered a total loss of 11.997 billion in the third quarter, and only one airline made a profit: China’s largest low-cost airline Spring Airlines Co.Ltd(601021) (601021. SH).
In the first three quarters of this year, the ten Chinese airlines lost a total of 31.5 billion yuan. Due to the repeated epidemic caused by the emergence of the mutant virus, the market expectation of civil aviation people in the fourth quarter of this year is also lower than that in the fourth quarter of last year. Many airlines will “harvest” losses for the second consecutive year this year.
At the civil aviation work conference held today, the Civil Aviation Administration revealed that in 2021, it issued a package of countermeasures and measures to rescue enterprises and promote the recovery and development of the industry, reducing costs for the industry by nearly 10 billion yuan throughout the year.
However, many people in the industry pointed out to reporters that the current rescue policy is a drop in the bucket for airlines that lose tens of millions or even hundreds of millions every day. Throughout 2021, every airline is looking for a way to “survive and survive”. However, many private airlines are still unable to survive and are forced to sell and change their owners.
For example, Qingdao Airlines controlled by private Nanshan Group has become a wholly-owned holding of Qingdao government, and Ruili airlines, a private airline company in Yunnan, has also moved to Wuxi and become the holding of Wuxi transportation group under Wuxi government. HNA Group, China’s fourth largest aviation group, completed bankruptcy reorganization in 2021, and the aviation sector changed to Liaoning China Fangda Group Co.Ltd(000055) .
what is the basis for turning losses in 2022
In 2022, although the impact of the epidemic continues, at the civil aviation work conference held today, the Civil Aviation Administration set a challenging goal for the industry: this year, strive to complete the total transportation turnover of 104 billion ton kilometers, 570 million passengers and 7.8 million tons of cargo and mail transportation, which has generally recovered to about 85% of the level before the epidemic; Under the condition that the epidemic situation does not fluctuate repeatedly, we will strive to turn losses and increase profits in the industry as a whole.
For many listed airlines, if they can\’t turn around their losses in 2022, they will be labeled as “ST” because of losses for three consecutive years.
To this end, in addition to continuing to reduce expenses in the past two years, many Air China companies also began to earn more income other than air tickets by developing more auxiliary products.
For example, Juneyao Airlines Co.Ltd(603885) and Sichuan Airlines have successively tested the water and paid for the upgraded meals. On the basis of retaining the free meals, economy class passengers can choose to spend 30-50 yuan to upgrade the free meals to more exquisite packages with rich dishes; Juneyao Airlines Co.Ltd(603885) and China Eastern Airlines also launched on-board WiFi point exchange, while Ruili Airlines launched boarding pass service.
At today’s civil aviation work conference, the Civil Aviation Administration also said that it would further deepen the reform of civil aviation prices and charges, encourage airlines to implement differentiated service price strategies, and encourage airports to increase non aviation revenue through business innovation.
With the improvement of vaccination rate and the advent of covid-19 specific drugs, whether the sharply reduced international flights can be restarted in 2022 has also become the key to whether AVIC can turn losses into profits.
In this regard, the Civil Aviation Administration pointed out at today’s civil aviation work meeting that it will closely track the global epidemic situation and the changes in the international air transport market, implement classified policies, be stable, careful and accurate, and scientifically and dynamically regulate the recovery of international passenger flights.
(source: First Finance)
