Air China Ld

Regulatory Filings • Apr 20, 2020

National Storage Mechanism | Additional information

RNS Number : 1516K

Air China Ld

20 April 2020

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement.

中國國際航空股份有限公司

AIR CHINA LIMITED

(a joint stock limited company incorporated in the People's Republic of China with limited liability)

(Stock Code: 00753)

ANNOUNCEMENT ON KEY OPERATING DATA OF MARCH 2020

The enclosed announcement (the "SSE Announcement") was published by Air China Limited (the "Air China") on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on 17 April 2020, which contains combined operating data for March 2020 for Air China and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Group"). This announcement enclosing the SSE Announcement is made by Air China pursuant to Rules 13.09 and 13.10B of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the "Listing Rules") and the Inside Information Provisions (as defined in  the Listing Rules) under Part XIVA of the Securities and Futures Ordinance  (Chapter 571 of the Laws of Hong Kong).

The data in the enclosed SSE Announcement was calculated based on the internal statistics of the Group, which may differ from the data disclosed in the relative periodic reports. Investors are hereby reminded of the risks which may result from inappropriate reliance upon or utilization of the information given above.

By Order of the Board

Air China Limited

Zhou Feng   Tam Shuit Mui

Joint Company Secretaries

Beijing, the PRC, 17 April 2020

As at the date of this announcement, the directors of the Company are Mr. Cai Jianjiang, Mr. Song Zhiyong, Mr. Patrick Healy, Mr. Xue Yasong, Mr. Wang Xiaokang*, Mr. Stanley Hui Hon-chung* and Mr. Li Dajin*.

* Independent non-executive director of the Company

SSE ANNOUNCEMENT

The SSE Announcement is written in Chinese, with no official English translation. The English translation is provided solely for reference only. In case of any discrepancy between the two versions, the Chinese version shall prevail. The full version of the SSE Announcement is as follows:

AIR CHINA LIMITED

ANNOUNCEMENT ON KEY OPERATING DATA OF MARCH 2020

In March 2020, Air China Limited (the "Company"), and its subsidiaries (the "Group") recorded decreases in combined passenger traffic (measured by revenue passenger kilometers (the "RPK")) as compared to the same period last year and recorded increases as compared to the same period last month. Passenger capacity (measured by available seat kilometers (the "ASK")) recorded a year-on- year decrease of 62.4% and an increase of 25.5% as compared to the same period last month. Passenger traffic recorded a year-on-year decrease of 73.5% and an increase of 38.6% as compared to the same period last month. For domestic routes, passenger capacity decreased by 50.7% and passenger traffic decreased by 63.3%, as compared to the same period last year. For international routes, passenger capacity decreased by 77.4% and passenger traffic decreased by 87.1%, as compared to the same period last year. Passenger capacity on regional routes decreased by 89.3%, and passenger traffic recorded a decrease of 97.7%, as compared to the same period last year. The overall passenger load factor was 56.8%, representing a decrease of 23.9 percentage points as compared to the same period last year. The passenger load factor for domestic routes decreased by 21 percentage points and for international routes decreased by 33.7 percentage points as compared to the same period last year, and the passenger load factor for regional routes decreased by 63.7 percentage points year-on-year.

In terms of cargo operations, cargo capacity (measured by available freight tonne kilometers (the "AFTK")) decreased by 68.5% year-on-year and decreased by 1.7% as compared with the same period last month. Cargo and mail traffic decreased by 55.5% on a year-on-year basis and recorded an increase of 50.1% as compared to the same period last month. The cargo load factor was 61.1%, representing a year-on-year increase of 17.9 percentage points.

As at the end of March 2020, the Group operated a fleet of 699 aircraft, including 286 self-owned aircraft, 207 aircraft under finance lease and 206 aircraft under operating lease.

The following table sets forth key operating data for March 2020:

	March 2020	Year-on- Year Change (%)1	Month- on-Month Change (%)1	Cumulative 2020	Year-on- Year Cumulative Change (%)1
I. Capacity
1. ATK (in million)2	1,102.2	-64.3	16.6	5,268.8	-42.8
Domestic	741.6	-53.9	79.1	2,889.2	-41.0
International	347.1	-74.7	-32.3	2,248.4	-43.5
Regional	13.5	-87.6	-27.2	131.2	-60.3
2. ASK (in million)3	8,909.2	-62.4	25.5	40,668.8	-42.2
Domestic	6,759.4	-50.7	84.6	25,060.4	-39.4
International	2,052.5	-77.4	-37.5	14,509.0	-44.7
Regional	97.3	-89.3	-37.1	1,099.4	-59.8
3. AFTK (in million)4	299.8	-68.5	-1.7	1,600.3	-44.1
Domestic	133.5	-64.5	57.6	634.6	-45.9
International	162.1	-70.8	-25.1	939.2	-41.9
Regional	4.2	-81.5	7.0	26.5	-63.6
II. Traffic
1. RTK (in million)5	630.6	-70.2	43.5	3,069.2	-49.9
Domestic	442.7	-60.9	126.8	1,735.9	-48.2
International	183.9	-79.7	-22.8	1,263.8	-50.4
Regional	4.0	-94.8	-34.0	69.5	-69.4
2. RPK (in million)6	5,061.6	-73.5	38.6	27,592.8	-51.8
Domestic	4,119.8	-63.3	124.0	17,136.0	-49.7
International	924.5	-87.1	-47.3	9,785.3	-53.3
Regional	17.3	-97.7	-69.7	671.5	-70.0
3. RFTK (in million)7	183.2	-55.5	50.1	656.2	-40.2
Domestic	77.9	-40.4	123.2	236.6	-34.5
International	102.9	-62.4	19.4	413.3	-42.3
Regional	2.4	-69.5	163.3	6.3	-68.4

	March 2020	Year-on- Year Change (%)1	Month- on-Month Change (%)1	Cumulative 2020	Year-on- Year Cumulative Change (%)1
4. Number of Passengers carried (in thousand)	2,924.2	-69.1	82.7	13,713.6	-51.8
Domestic	2,765.7	-63.3	120.3	11,355.0	-50.1
International	146.7	-90.1	-52.6	1,927.2	-55.1
Regional	11.8	-97.5	-67.3	431.4	-69.6
5. Total Cargo and Mail carried (in tonnes)	67,426.9	-45.3	91.9	213,396.5	-35.9
Domestic	50,163.2	-37.6	125.7	149,037.9	-32.8
International	15,642.6	-58.8	27.2	59,966.1	-39.6
Regional	1,621.0	-66.2	169.2	4,392.4	-63.9
III. Load Factor
1. Passenger Load Factor (%)8	56.8	-23.9	5.4	67.8	-13.6
Domestic	60.9	-21.0	10.7	68.4	-14.1
International	45.0	-33.7	-8.4	67.4	-12.4
Regional	17.7	-63.7	-19.0	61.1	-20.8
2. Cargo and Mail Load Factor (%)9	61.1	17.9	21.1	41.0	2.7
Domestic	58.4	23.6	17.2	37.3	6.5
International	63.5	14.1	23.7	44.0	-0.3
Regional	56.3	22.2	33.4	23.7	-3.6
3. Overall Load Factor (%)10	57.2	-11.3	10.7	58.3	-8.3
Domestic	59.7	-10.7	12.6	60.1	-8.4
International	53.0	-13.2	6.5	56.2	-7.9
Regional	29.6	-41.2	-3.1	53.0	-15.7

Notes:

1.       Change is expressed in percentage in terms of "Capacity" and "Traffic", and is expressed in percentage points in terms of "Load Factor"

2.       "ATK(s)" refers to the number of tonnes of capacity available for transportation multiplied by the kilometers flown

3.       "ASK(s)" refers to the number of seats available for sale multiplied by the kilometers flown

4.       "AFTK(s)" refers to the number of tonnes of capacity available for the carriage of cargo and mail multiplied by the kilometers flown

5.       "RTK(s)" refers to the revenue load (passenger and cargo) in tonnes multiplied by the kilometers flown

6.       "RPK(s)" refers to the number of revenue passengers carried multiplied by the kilometers flown

7.       "RFTK(s)" refers to the revenue cargo and mail load in tonnes multiplied by the kilometers flown

8.       "Passenger Load Factor" refers to revenue passenger kilometers expressed as a percentage of available seat kilometers

9.       "Cargo and Mail Load Factor" refers to revenue freight tonne kilometers expressed as a percentage of available freight tonne kilometers

10.     "Overall Load Factor" refers to RTKs expressed as a percentage of available tonne kilometers

The key operating data above was calculated based on the internal statistics of the Group, which may differ from the data disclosed in the relative periodic reports. Investors are hereby reminded of the risks which may result from inappropriate reliance upon or utilization of the information given above.

Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, aviation demand dropped sharply in the first quarter. By the end of March, the Group had grasped the changes in market demand, dynamically optimized the deployment of transport capacity, refined marketing control, and actively sought to increase revenue through flexible adjustment between domestic and international flights, passenger and freight flights, through resource guarantee mechanisms and other measures, all with the aim to minimize the impact of the pandemic with utmost efforts. However, in view of the serious impact of the pandemic on the civil aviation transport industry, it is expected that the Group's operating results of the first quarter of 2020 will be significantly affected. Investors are reminded of the investment risks.

Board of Directors of Air China Limited Beijing, the PRC, 17 April 2020

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