It has not been a good week for several companies within the airline industry. Southwest Airlines reported a first quarter net loss of $91 million while American Airlines parent AMR Corporation reported a first quarter net loss of $375 million, and a group of European airlines are struggling as well. Yet such turbulence doesn't seem to exist across the Pacific Ocean.
Reuters is reporting that China's top three airlines could gain a fair profit this year, after losing more than $4 billion in 2008, due to a rapid rise in domestic air travel in the first quarter. Air China flew 9.47 million passengers in January-March, up 14 percent from last year's first quarter. Meanwhile China Eastern and China Southern have predicted passenger travel gains of 12 percent and 10 percent respectively.
Beijing's efforts to reduce fuel prices, its aggressive stimulus package to bolster economic growth, as well as capital injections to China Eastern and China Southern, have helped nurse the ailing airlines back to health, analysts say.
Read the entire Reuters article here.