Air China Limited Announces 2018 First Quarter Results: Improving Development Quality to Achieve Significant Growth in Profit

(Source: PR Newswire)

Air China Limited ("Air China" or the "Company," together with its subsidiaries, collectively the " Group") (HKEX: 00753; LSE: AIRC; SSE: 601111; ADR OTC: AIRYY), today announced its first quarter results of 2018 (the "Period").

Results HighlightsTotal profit increased 66.31% year-on-year to RMB4.024 billion

Operating income increased 9.11% year-on-year to RMB31.607 billion

Total operating cost increased 6.71% year-on-year to RMB 28.230 billion

Operation and Business Highlights

In the first quarter of 2018, the Chinese economy developed steadily. As residents' demand for travel was strong, air passenger traffic maintained steady growth while demand in the cargo market continued to improve. During the Period, the Group recorded operating income of RMB31.607 billion, an increase of 9.11% over the same period of last year. Total operating cost was RMB 28.230 billion, an increase of 6.71% over the same period of last year. Total profit was RMB4.024 billion, an increase of 66.31% over the same period of last year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was RMB2.628 billion, an increase of 79.23% over the same period of last year.

During the Period, the Group's passenger capacity, measured by Available Seat Kilometers (ASK) increased by 10.96% year on year to 65.758 billion. The passenger traffic, measured by Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPK) was 53.350 billion, an increase of 9.75% year on year. Among which, RPK of domestic routes, international routes and regional routes amounted to 32.596 billion, 18.849 billion, and 1.905 billion, up 7.44%,13.65% and 12.92% year on year, respectively. The passenger load factor was 81.13%, a slight decrease of 0.90 percentage points year on year, of which, the passenger load factor of domestic, international and regional routes were 83.02%, 78.28% and 78.90% respectively.

In terms of air cargo, the Available Freight Tonne Kilometers (AFTK) amounted to 3.518 billion, up 9.81% year on year, while the Revenue Freight Tonne Kilometers (RFTK) amounted to 1.803 billion, up 10.90% year on year. The cargo and mail load factor was 51.26%, up 0.51 percentage points year on year.

Outlook

Benefitting from the continued development of the global aviation industry, steady growth of China's macro economy, and the influence of a series of policies favourable to the industry, we expect the Company will have larger room for development this year. Adhering to the development philosophy of "Innovation, Coordination, Green, Openness and Sharing", the Group will persist in making progress while pursuing stability, continue to deepen reform and innovation, strengthen cost management and control, optimize capital and debt structure, and consolidate and enhance competitive advantages, so as to achieve better performance and sustainable development to its utmost ability.