File photo:Xinhua

 Major Chinese airlines lost money in the first half of the year as the COVID-19 pandemic slammed their businesses, according to their half-year financial disclosures on Friday.

National flag carrier Air China reported 9.44 billion yuan ($1.38 billion) in net losses in the first half, on the back of 29.65 billion yuan in revenue. This compares to a net profit of 3.14 billion yuan in the first half of 2019.

The coronavirus outbreak poses an unprecedented test for the airline, its financial report said. The firm eked out 22.95 billion yuan from passenger traffic services during the period, a drop of 36.9 billion yuan from the same time last year.

In the case of China Eastern Airlines, it swung from 1.94 billion yuan in earnings in the first six months of 2019 to 8.54 billion yuan in losses from January to June this year. 

China Southern Airlines revealed a net loss of 8.17 billion yuan in the first half versus 1.69 billion in net profits during the same period last year. 

Budget carrier Spring Airlines also announced Friday a net loss of 408.6 million yuan, down from 854 million yuan in net profits the year before. 

The fallout from the pandemic on the aviation sector is conspicuous, but it's expected to rebound from domestic flights, Wang Jiangmin, a senior civil aviation economist, told the Global Times on Friday, noting that China is well ahead of the global aviation recovery curve.

The rollout of marketing activities by airlines, adding to the economy's reboot amid the nation's effective virus containment, has sparked optimism.

In a sign that the worst could be over for the domestic aviation sector, shares of the four airlines on the Chinese mainland market closed up on Friday. 

But a global air traffic rebound will take longer. The International Air Transport Association forecast in late July that global passenger traffic won't return to pre-virus levels until 2024, a year later than its previous estimate. 

Despite a brisk domestic recovery, it would still be difficult for Chinese airlines to turn profitable for the whole year, Wang said.

He cited lingering coronavirus woes outside the country, which will continue to cripple overseas flights of Chinese airlines, and the October-December off season for aviation.

"It's very likely that their full-year earnings would be in the red," he said.