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China Eastern Airlines H1 net profit down 28.5%

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-27 16:06

China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd said net profit in the first half of the year fell 28.5 percent from a year ago to 41.62 million yuan ($6.07 billion) under Chinese accounting standards mainly due to rising jet fuel prices.

In its interim report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the airline said it carried 18.11 million passengers in the first six months, down 1.23 percent year-on-year. Passenger load factor was down by 0.34 percentage point year-on-year to 71.11 percent.

For the first half, the Shanghai-based airline carried 449,860 tons of cargo, up 6.49 percent from a year earlier.

Operating revenue in the first six months rose 6.3 percent year-on-year to 20.83 billion yuan. Revenue from passenger traffic rose 3.27 percent to 18.06 billion yuan.

However, operating expenses were up 13.15 percent year-on-year to 19.73 billion yuan mainly because of higher jet fuel costs.

In the first six months, the airline's jet fuel costs stood at 8.66 billion yuan, up 22.84 percent year-on-year, accounting for 43.42 percent of its operating expenses.

Earnings per share were 0.0086 yuan, against 0.012 yuan a year earlier.

Under international accounting standards, China Eastern booked a net loss of 212.5 million yuan in the January-June period. It did not give comparative data in its report to the Shanghai exchange.

Looking ahead, the airline said that weekend charter flights linking the China mainland with Taiwan will bring more opportunities for increased air traffic.

It also said it plans to introduce 16 aircrafts to its fleet in the second half of the year, including three A330-300s, four A321s, seven A320s, one B737-700 and one B737-800.