Chinese airlines lose over $14 billion in first nine months on Covid outbreaks, costlier fuel

China’s eight listed airlines lost a total of 106 billion yuan ($14.6 billion) in the first three quarters of the year, or 388 million yuan ($53.4 million) a day, because of sporadic Covid-19 outbreaks and higher fuel prices.

The four major carriers - Air China, China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, and China Southern Airlines - widened their losses to 28.1 billion yuan ($3.9 billion), 28.1 billion yuan ($3.9 billion), 20.8 billion yuan ($2.8 billion), and 17.6 billion yuan ($2.4 billion), respectively, in the nine months ended Sept. 30 from a year ago, according to Yicai Global.

Because of Covid-19 outbreaks, the market has recovered by only about 50% compared with 2019, versus 70% last year, while fuel prices have surged about 75% from a year earlier, raising total industry costs by over 40 billion yuan ($5 billion).