Airline outlook: Less turbulence, more profit

The financial performance of Chinese airlines improved in the third quarter as passenger traffic rose and fuel prices declined.

While Air China's profit of 4.48 billion yuan ($719 million) from operations in the third quarter was a drop of 17 percent compared with the same period in 2011, the decline was much lower than the first half of the year, when revenues fell some 74 percent, according to a report released by the carrier on Oct 26.