Passenger traffic continued to display steady year-over-year growth across the board in May 2011. As for month-over-month performance, while international traffic increased, domestic and regional traffic decreased slightly. In cargo, international and regional Revenue Freighter Tonne Kilometres (RFTK) and freighter tonnage carried showed various levels of year-over-year and month-over-month declines. Domestic cargo routes were the exception to this trend.

Passenger traffic for May achieved a year-over-year growth exceeding the rise in capacity. Passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK), was up 5.1% year-over-year while passenger traffic, measured by Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK), rose by 9.9%. Capacity on domestic routes increased by 3.4%, while RPK climbed 10.2% year-over-year. Capacity on international routes rose by 7.8%, with RPK internationally increasing by 9.2%. Capacity on regional routes expanded 6.8%, with RPK regionally growing by 14.5%. The passenger load factor was 81.8%, up 3.6 percentage points year-over-year. The passenger load factor for international, domestic and regional routes increased by 1.0, 5.0 and 5.3 percentage points respectively year-over-year.

Cargo capacity, measured in Available Freighter Tonne Kilometres (AFTK), rose 1.6% year-over-year in May. Revenue Freighter Tonne Kilometres (RFTK) declined by 0.7%, and freighter tonnage carried increased by 1.3%, compared with May 2010. The cargo load factor was 60.4%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points year-over-year.

Starting from 11 May, the company launched a new international flight between Beijing-Munich-Athens two times a week.

During the month, Air China purchased a total of 273,000 tonnes of jet fuel at an average price of RMB7,478 per tonne, a year-over-year surge of 31%. The average jet fuel purchase price at international airports was RMB7,223 per tonne, and the average purchase price of jet fuel for international flights at the top six Chinese airports was RMB7,752 per tonne, representing steep 37% and 36% year-over-year increases, respectively. The average jet fuel purchase price for domestic flights was RMB7,467 per tonne, a rise of 27% compared with May last year.

Starting from 25 May, domestic jet fuel price had a further increase of RMB 800 per tonne.

In May, the company made the following adjustments to jet fuel surcharges:
 

* Please note that Shenzhen Airlines and Air Macau are excluded from the above figures

During the month, the company added one A321 aircraft and one business jet, while retiring one A320 and one TU-204 aircraft. As of end-May, Air China operated a fleet of 290 aircraft.