Losses at airlines in the Asia-Pacific region will likely halve to USD6.9 billion this year from USD13.5 billion in 2022 after China eased its Covid-19 controls, according to the International Air Transport Association.
Despite narrowing their losses, carriers will still face some pressure on operations in the Chinese mainland, Dr. Xie Xingquan, the IATA's vice president for North Asia, said in an interview with Yicai Global.
The desire to travel and the demand for air tickets have risen in the mainland market, but so has air capacity, affecting the load factor and ticket prices, Xie noted. “Air ticket prices quickly fell after the May Day holiday, but costs have not dropped significantly,” he said.
International flights have not recovered to half the level of 2019, and Chinese carriers operating a larger share of such flights face greater pressures. Optimistic projections have China's overseas air traffic recovering to the level of 2019 by the first quarter of next year, according to Xie.
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