Business

China Southern Returned to Profit in 2025, Ending 5 Years of Losses
By Reuters | 30 Mar, 2026

China Southern, one of China's Big 3 state-owned carriers, reported Monday a net profit of 857 million yuan ($124.01 million) in 2025 for its first profitable year since 2019 on improvements to operational efficiency.

China Southern Airlines on Monday reported a net profit of 857 million yuan ($124.01 million) for 2025, returning to the black for the first time since 2019, as it benefited from operational improvements and tighter cost controls.

The Guangzhou-based carrier's full-year profit was within the company's January guidance range of 800 million yuan to 1 billion yuan and compared with a net loss of 1.7 billion yuan in 2024.

It was the only one of China's "Big 3" state-owned airlines to report a full-year net profit in 2025.

In its earnings guidance, the airline said the industry still faced a challenging external environment, supply-chain tightness and rising prices for aircraft, aviation materials and engines. But the carrier said it had improved its performance by optimising passenger and cargo capacity allocation and strengthening cost controls.

($1 = 6.9105 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Sophie Yu in Beijing and Julie Zhu in Hong Kong; Editing by Jamie Freed and Tomasz Janowski)