Air China Reduces Investment On International Routes

As a result of the increasing influence of the global financial crisis and taking advantage of its ability to extend its network through its membership of Star Alliance Air China, one of the largest airline companies in China, plans to reduce its investment on international routes.

Air China's statistics show that the company's investment in international flight capacity decreased by 10% in January 2009 despite the increase of its investment on general flight capacity during the period. A representative from Air China stated that in January the company's investment increased by 10% in general, and passenger numbers also rose by 10.4%, while the investment for international flight capacity declined by 10.3% compared with the same period of 2008 and the number of passengers on international routes declined by 4.5%.

During the Chinese Spring Festival golden week this year, Air China's overall investment on domestic routes and its passenger numbers for domestic lines were both higher than the industry average. Its average Passenger Load Factor and PLF for domestic routes were said to be 1.8 percentage points and 2.1 percentage pointshigher than those of the industry's average level. Compared with the 2008 Spring Festival Week, Air China's domestic passenger delivery reportedly increased by up to 30.6%, and its PLF also increased by 2.7 percentage points over the same period of the previous year.