Air China traffic up 16%, Philippine Airlines' share slide continues
Air China reported traffic for 2010 rose 16.1% year-on-year to 46.2 million. Domestic traffic rose 14.7% to 38.3 million, while international traffic rose 20.1%. Average load factors were 80.3%, 3.4 ppts higher than in 2010. Dec-2010 traffic was up 8.8% year-on-year to 3.5 million.
Shares in Air China rose 3.4%, with other mainland Chinese carriers generally up as well. Hainan Airlines was up 1.8%, along with China Southern (+1.7%), China Eastern (+1%) and Shandong Airlines (0.7%). Cathay Pacific shares rose 0.9%.
Also in North Asia, shares in Korean and Taiwan-based carriers eased. China Airlines fell 0.8% while EVA Airways and Korean Air were down 0.4%. Asiana Airlines proved the exception, up 0.5%.
Philippine Airlines' share weakness continued, with the carrier's stock plummeting 6.1%. The carrier announced earlier this week it would oppose a Labour Ministry order increasing the pay of PAL cabin crew and raising the minimum retirement age to 50.
Shares in Malaysian LCC AirAsia were up 5.9%.
Selected Asia Pacific airlines daily share price movements (% change): 12-Jan-2011