The Zhitong Finance App learned that aviation stocks declined today. As of press release, Air China (00753) fell 3.92% to HK$3.68; China Southern Airlines (01055) fell 3.36% to HK$2.59; Eastern Airlines (00670) fell 2.63% to HK$1.85; and Cathay Pacific (00293) fell 1.59% to HK$8.04.

Dongxing Securities pointed out that in the domestic market, the industry changed from peak season to low season in March. The capacity investment and passenger occupancy rate of all airlines declined month-on-month. Among them, the overall capacity investment of listed airlines fell by more than 6% month-on-month compared to February, while the passenger occupancy rate fell by about 3.8 pct month-on-month, indicating that the domestic market had a certain excess capacity during the off-season. The bank said that although airlines performed well during the peak season of the Spring Festival, airlines still faced the problem of insufficient demand after entering the off-season. We anticipate that the problem under pressure on the industry during the off-season will gradually improve as international routes resume this year, but the improvement process will take time.

In terms of international routes, the international capacity investment of airlines listed in March was equivalent to about 77% of the same period in '19, down about 1.6% from February. The concentrated release of demand for short trips abroad during the Spring Festival holiday was the main reason for the decline in demand for international routes in March, and this is a normal phenomenon. After the aviation season changes, international long-haul routes are expected to resume at an accelerated pace, and we look forward to improvements in industry fundamentals.