China Eastern Airlines suffered $1.9 billion in losses in 2021

China's second largest airline, China Eastern Airlines, suffered losses of 12.2 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) in 2021, in 2020 this figure was 11.8 billion yuan (about $1.8 billion).

Such data are contained in the company's financial report, published on Wednesday on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Last year, the airline's total revenue grew by 14.8% year-on-year and amounted to 67.1 billion yuan ($10.5 billion). As for passenger traffic, in 2021 it grew by 6%, to 79 million people. At the same time, the document states, operating costs increased by 9.24 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) compared to 2020 due to rising fuel prices on the world market.
In February last year, the media reported that China Eastern Airlines, which was suffering losses, was supposed to receive financial injections of 10.8 billion yuan (about $1.7 billion) from its parent company as support to overcome the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for its operating activities. The financing was to be carried out through the acquisition of China Eastern Air Holding 2.5 billion new shares of the airline at a price of 4.34 yuan (about $ 0.67) apiece, which will increase the holding's share in the airline from 49.8% to 56.4%. It was supposed to send about 6 billion yuan ($944.8 million) to repay the debts of China Eastern Airlines, and put the rest of the funds into working capital.
In 2019, the airline's profit amounted to 3.2 billion yuan (about $495 million).