Air China Limited Announces 2013 Third Quarter Results Results Highlights

Hong Kong — October 29, 2013 — Air China Limited (“Air China” or “the Company,” together with its subsidiaries, collectively “the Group”) (HKEX: 00753; LSE: AIRC; SSE: 601111: ADR OTC: AIRYY), today announced its results1 for the third quarter of 2013 (“the Period”).

Operating and Business Highlights
During the third quarter of 2013, China’s economy remained stable while the aviation industry enjoyed a steady growth in demand. Benefitting from the significant increase in outward-bound passengers, the international passenger market has expanded rapidly. However, market competition and increased investment in capacity reduced the overall profitability of the industry. During the Period, the Group’s operating revenue was RMB27.929 billion, a decline of 2.86% year-on-year. Operating cost increased by 2.29% year-on-year to RMB21.254 billion. Operating profit decreased by 10.33% year-on-year to RMB4.021 billion. Net profit reached RMB2.942 billion, a drop of 7.31% compared with a net profit of RMB3.174 billion in the same period of 2012.

During the Period, passenger capacity, measured by Available Seat Kilometer (“ASK”), rose by 10.35% year-over-year to 46.889 billion. Passenger traffic measured by Revenue Passenger Kilometers (“RPK”) was 38.754 billion, up 10.51% from the same period in 2012. Passenger traffic or RPK on international routes strongly increased by 17.7% year-on-year to 12.091 billion, while that on domestic and regional routes also rose 7.4% and 10.4% to 25.042 billion and 1.622 billion respectively. The passenger load factor was 82.65%, an increase of 0.12 percentage points compared with the same period in 2012. The load factor for international and regional routes was 83.82% and 77.04% respectively, representing increases of 0.73 and 1.45 percentage points year-over-year respectively. The load factor for domestic routes was 82.49%, a drop of 0.27 percentage point.

During the Period, cargo capacity as measured by Available Freight Tonne Kilometers (“AFTK”), slightly decreased by 0.4% year-on-year to 2.194 billion. Cargo traffic as measured by Revenue Freight Tonne Kilometers (“RFTK”), declined by 3.1% to 1.310 billion. The cargo and mail load factor was 59.70%, a drop of 1.67 percentage points year-on-year.

Outlook
Mr Wang Changshun, Chairman of Air China, said, “The aviation industry faces many challenges in the months ahead. Moving forward, the Group will continue to adhere to the strategies that have proven to be successful. At the same time, it will proactively take initiatives to continue to improve the customer experience, address market trends and strengthen business collaboration with its strategic partners, ultimately aiming to achieve its goal of sustainable development.”