China Southern returns to profit in 2025 as Air China posts wider losses; Shandong to lease 10 Boeing 737s

China Southern’s CNY857 million 2025 net profit signals an operational turnaround for one of China’s largest carriers amid a challenging recovery environment; this is a measurable shift in carrier profitability trends and capacity planning. See recent market context on China demand shifts (source:a313f081-4325-4889-b85f-998e04a8aa3e).

Air China reported a materially wider 2025 net loss (reported at CNY3.54 billion in one summary), underscoring uneven financial performance across state and major carriers and implications for fleet and network investment decisions.

Shandong’s lease of 10 Boeing 737-family aircraft, with deliveries from 2026, confirms continued narrowbody demand and active leasing activity; this ties to recent commercial realignments in China, including belly-cargo and network adjustments (source:d4ac0040-9f05-447a-866f-7474387bd6ef) and large narrowbody orders by peers (source:bca99591-f27a-4bd9-88c9-1d04e36608ee).