“Long period of hardship” ahead for China Southern

China Southern Airlines has had a very difficult first half of 2008 and the outlook is not much better, according to Chairman, Liu Shaoyong. Mr Liu stated, airlines are "generally saddled with three major burdens, including insufficient market demand, fierce competition and high oil prices…As such, the group expects to undergo a long period of hardship". Investors seem to have accepted the inevitable, having sent China Southern's shares 81% lower this year, making it the worst performing company in the benchmark Shanghai CSI 300 Index, including a 9.9% plunge yesterday.