Hainan Airlines loses 208 mln U.S. dlrs in 2008

Shanghai-listed Hainan Airlines Co., Ltd. (HNA) reported a 1.42 billion yuan (208 million U.S. dollars) net profit loss last year due to high oil price and waning passenger demands.

The company attributed the losses to the rising oil price in the first half of last year and the declining market demands brought by the global economic downturn in the second half of 2008,according to its 2008 annual report released Saturday.

The net profit of the airline company stood at 627 million yuan in 2007.

The local airline company based in China's southernmost Hainan Province flew a total number of 118,854 flights in 2008, down 19.1percent from 2007, according to the report.

HNA has just been granted this week a capital injection worth three billion yuan from the local provincial government and its parent company HNA Group.

After the capital injection, the assets-liabilities ratio of HNA would decline to about 81 percent.