Air China chairman says situation worse as airlines suffer reduced profits

Air China flights as well as those by other Chinese carriers have proved to be a dampener as profits deplete sharply.

Media reports recently said that major Chinese carriers are likely to suffer heavily seeing their profits sharply on the decline which have been experienced in the first half of 2012. The profits have been on the constant decline following the recession in the first quarter of this year.

According to China Southern Airlines, its net profits for the first half of 2012 are likely to decrease by more than 50 percent as compared to the same period in 2011.
 
Media reports cited the latest statistics and said that China Southern Airlines profit decreased by 74.19 percent. Other major Chinese carrier China Eastern Airlines also reported a decline in its profits by 73.68 percent.

Air China also reported a huge decline in its profits as Air China flights tickets failed to put up strong sales. Air China stated that it had suffered 85.7 percent decline in its profit in the first quarter of 2012 as compared to the same period in 2011.

Wang Changshun, Air China’s Chairman, said that the current situation is even worse than in 2008, when the airlines suffered the last financial crisis. All the major Chinese carriers said that the present decline in profits have been due to the slowdown in economic growth of China.