Air China has reported a more than three-fold increase in net profit for the first half thanks to sustained strong demand and foreign exchange gains.

The Beijing-based flag carrier told the Hong Kong stock exchange that net profit increased 243% to $206 million in the January-June period from $60.5m in the same six months of last year. Turnover increased 17%, to $3.08 billion from $2.63bn, while operating expenses increased 15.5% to $2.89bn from $2.51bn. Operating profit rose 53%, to $2.51bn from $118.13m.

The results include sizeable foreign exchange gains as a result of the appreciation of the local currency against the US dollar. Demand was also strong during the first half and the number of passengers carried increased 14.6% to 16.6 million. ASKs increased 11.8% while RPKs rose 14.9% and passenger load factor improved two percentage points to 75.8%.

Air China

The amount of freight carried increased 18.4% in the first half to 454,000t. Revenue freight tonne kilometres (FTK) increased 20.8% while capacity increased 24.2%, pushing freight load factor down by 1.5 points to 52.5%.

Source: Flight Daily News

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