Huatai Securities: Airline Operations Keep Improving, Awaiting Oil Price Decline

36Kr learned that a Huatai Securities research report said airline capacity growth remained at a high level in September. ASK and RPK for the Big Three (Air China, China Eastern, China Southern) plus Spring Airlines and Juneyao rose 6.6% and 7.4% year on year, respectively. Load factor increased 0.7 percentage points year on year to 86.6%, while ticket prices also improved. Domestic fuel-inclusive fares for weeks 36 to 39 (August 31 to September 27) rose 7.6% year on year, clearly better than the -0.1% during the summer travel peak, according to Flight Butler. Currently, the overall fuel cost burden for airlines remains heavy, and the market's attention to and expectations for the sector are low. Looking ahead, a sector rebound requires waiting for oil prices to fall. However, high-frequency data such as recent ticket prices continue to improve. In addition, the release of the "Optimization Measures for Domestic Route Flight Approval" and the new season's timetables reflecting an "anti-involution" orientation support Huatai Securities' continued optimism that the industry's cyclical bottom is recovering over the medium to long term.