(Yicai) Feb. 8 -- Sichuan Airlines and several other privately held Chinese carriers swung back into the black last year, while the rest, including the country’s three biggest, languished in the red in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sichuan Airlines turned an annual profit in 2023 after three straight years of losses, according to information disclosed by the Chinese province’s state-owned assets manager. Its parent company Sichuan Airlines Group and four other shareholders also injected CNY12 billion (USD1.7 billion) into the business last year.

Sichuan Airlines Group will transition into an industrial investment platform this year and study how its carrier arm could go public, the asset manager said. The group owns 40 percent of the Chengdu-based airline. 

Besides Sichuan Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, Zhejiang Loong Airlines, Shenzhen Donghao Airlines, and other unlisted carriers became profitable again, they told Yicai.

Seven airlines listed on stock exchanges have issued updates on their 2023 earnings. Spring Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, and Hainan Airlines Holding expect to have reversed their losses, but Air China, China Eastern Airlines, and China Southern Airlines -- the big three -- as well as China Express Airlines predict further red ink.

China’s airlines pared their losses by a combined CNY187.2 billion (USD26.3 billion) last year from 2022 amid the travel market recovery, according to data from the civil aviation regulator. Based on that number and earlier earnings, they still lost about CNY30 billion in the 12 months. 

Editors: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine