Oil prices hit Chinese airlines
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-23 09:33
Overall losses of China's civil aviation industry amounted to 1.34 billion
yuan (167.5 million U.S. dollars) in the first quarter due to surging oil
prices, Shanghai Securities News reported on Monday.
Quoting a report by
the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), the paper said
most of the country's major airlines reported losses from January to March.
However, Shenzhen Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and Hainan Airlines said
they made profits during the three-month period.
An official with
Shenzhen Airlines attributed the achievement to a series of measures to reduce
management, labor and maintenance costs.
Shanghai-based China Eastern
Airlines said its economic losses came to 955 million yuan (119 million dollars)
in the first quarter.
Guangdong-based China Southern Airlines said its
net losses amounted to 665 million yuan, predicting the losses would continue in
the second quarter.
CAAC statistics showed the country's airlines
transported 35.13 million passengers and 749,000 tons of cargo in the
first quarter, up 20 percent and 12.5 percent respectively from the same period
last year.
The industry's total revenues amounted to 47.43 billion yuan
(5.9 billion dollars), a rise of 21.5 percent year on year. Production
costs rose 26.4 percent year-on-year to 48.47 billion yuan (six billion
dollars).
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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