Shares of three major Chinese airlines fell Monday as air travel to Japan may be grounded on fears of a nuclear radiation as authorities there battle to combat multiple reactor meltdowns caused by the devastating earthquake last week.
Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines, the country's second-largest carrier, lost 1.1 percent to 6.41 yuan (98 US cents) yesterday.
Beijing-based Air China, the country's flagship international carrier, fell 1.4 percent to 11.54 yuan, and Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines, the country's largest by fleet, shed 1.2 percent to 8.43 yuan.
China Eastern is hopeful that its operations will not be hit greatly in the short term.
"However, if nuclear radiation worsens in Japan, the travel market will be affected and passenger volume is likely to drop on our China-Japan routes," Luo Zhuping, board secretary of China Eastern, adding that its flights to Japan account for 5-6 percent of its total flights.
Zeng Xu, an analyst at Industrial Securities, said if the China-Japan route is suspended for a week, Air China will lose 3.7 million yuan, China Eastern will shed 2.23 million yuan and China Southern will be 153 million yuan poorer.
"Concerns over aftershocks and nuclear radiation will decrease travel demand sharply in the mid-term, and domestic carriers will have to allocate some jets on Japanese flights to serve domestic routes to offset losses," Zeng said.
