Total operating revenue increased by 11.2% to RMB16,880 million.
Passenger revenue increased by 13.6% to RMB15, 055 million.
Profit attributable to shareholders amounted to RMB340 million. (2000: RMB502
million)
The Board of Directors recommended a final dividend of RMB0.02 per share (tax inclusive). (2000: Nil)
China Southern Airlines Company Limited ("China Southern Airlines" or the "Company") together with its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Group") announced the audited consolidated results of the Group for the year ended 31 December 2001 ("the Year"), prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standards ("IAS"). The Group's total operating revenue increased by 11.2% year-on-year to RMB16,880 million in 2001. Profit attributable to shareholders was RMB340 million in 2001, a decrease of 32.2% when compared to 2000. Basic earnings per share was RMB0.10 in 2001 as compared to RMB0.15 in 2000. The Board of Directors of the Company recommended the payment of a final dividend of RMB0.02 per share (tax inclusive).
The increase in operating revenue represents a greater demand for aviation services in 2001. The Company's operating revenue was mainly derived from passenger traffic and cargo and mail traffic. During the Year, passenger revenue increased by 13.6% from RMB 13,255 million in 2000 to RMB15,055 million in 2001. The total number of passengers carried increased by 13.5% to 19.12 million in 2001. Cargo and mail carried (in terms of tonnes) increased by 12.7% to 398,000
tonnes.
Total operating expenses increased during the Year, mainly due to the combined effect of the growth in operations and increase in operating lease rentals. During the Year, the operating lease rentals increased by 18.4%, primarily due to the full-year effect of five Boeing 737-300/37K aircraft wet leased from Zhongyuan Airlines commencing in 2000. As a result of the 911 incident, aircraft insurance costs increased by 44.7% to RMB123 million. However, total operating expenses as a percentage of total operating revenue decreased from 92.2% in 2000 to 91.7% in 2001 as the increase in operating revenue exceeded the increase in operating expenses, resulting in an increase of 18.5% in operating profit to RMB1,401 million in 2001.
The Company's Chairman Mr. Yan Zhi Qing said, "The continued high prices in jet fuel and keen competition in the local aviation market have presented great challenges to our operation. The Group's management took active measures in optimising its traffic capacity, thus raising the Group's aircraft daily utilization rate by 4.6% to an average of 9.1 hours per day. As such, the traffic capacity of the Group has been adequately enhanced without substantially increasing the number of aircraft, warranting an increase of traffic revenue. Although the Group has faced tremendous pressure from high fuel prices for the past two years, the operating cost per unit of available tonne kilometre remained unchanged in 2000 and decreased by 0.7% in 2001. This demonstrated that the Group managed to improve its management quality and achieved its target of cost control."
Looking towards the future, Mr. Yan said, "2002 is a year of challenges and hopes. The PRC's entry into the World Trade Organization attracts investors from all over the world to China to explore business opportunities. The Group will, in the second half of 2002, take delivery of two new Boeing 747-400 freighters to cope with increasing demand for aviation logistics as a result of the boost in international trade."
"In the meantime, we have increased the frequency of our flights to and from Korea and Japan, in response to the 2002 FIFA World Cup to be held in these two countries and the passenger traffic growth resulted. With a view to expanding our route network and increasing our market shares, we will continue to take every opportunity to enhance cost controls, further improve our management and deliver better service."
The Group continues to rank first among Chinese airlines in terms of volume of passenger traffic, number of scheduled flights per week, number of hours flown, number of routes and size of aircraft fleet. As of the year-end of 2001, the Group owned 111 aircraft and operated 385 routes, of which 320 were domestic routes, 22 were Hong Kong regional routes and 43 were international routes. The number of hours flown was 365,000 and the total revenue tonne kilometres were 3,034 million. Total number of passengers carried was 19.12 million, approximately accounting for a quarter of the total passengers carried in the aviation industry in the
PRC. |
