Core Viewpoint - The aviation industry is experiencing a continuous digestion of existing supply, with aircraft utilization rates exceeding 2019 levels during peak season, indicating a potential slowdown in supply growth in the future. The significant increase in international routes and limited domestic capacity growth suggest an optimization of the domestic competitive landscape, with high passenger load factors likely to improve ticket prices. Favorable oil prices and exchange rates are expected to lead to a "not-so-slow" trend in Q4, with a significant reduction in losses anticipated for the aviation industry by Q4 2025 and a release of profit elasticity in 2026 [1]. Group 1: Flight and Passenger Volume - Flight and passenger volume growth: In Q3 2025, overall, domestic, international, and regional flight volumes increased by 3%/2%/12%/7% year-on-year, while overall, domestic, international, and regional passenger volumes grew by 3.90%/2.84%/15.31%/-2.37% year-on-year [1]. - Airlines' capacity deployment: Except for Juneyao Airlines, overall capacity investment increased, focusing on international routes. In Q3 2025, ASK (Available Seat Kilometers) for major airlines showed year-on-year growth of 1.9%/5.7%/6.0%/4.4%/14.1%/-1.4% [2]. - Passenger turnover growth outpaced available seat kilometers growth, with load factors remaining high. In Q3 2025, passenger turnover for major airlines increased by 3.6%/6.2%/8.9%/4.2%/14.0%/-0.4% year-on-year, with industry load factors for July to September averaging 84.5%/87.5%/86.3%, up 0.5/0.6/2.4 percentage points year-on-year [2]. Group 2: Revenue and Cost Analysis - Revenue growth driven by capacity increase and passenger volume: In Q3 2025, total operating revenue for major airlines grew by 0.9%/3.0%/3.1%/1.8%/6.0%/-1.9% year-on-year [3]. - Decrease in oil prices alleviated fuel costs, while capacity investment diluted fixed costs, although variable costs increased. In Q3 2025, operating costs for major airlines increased by 0.07%/1.63%/1.51%/-1.43%/8.74%/-0.46% year-on-year [3]. - Revenue per available seat kilometer decreased, but the decline in costs was generally greater than the decline in revenue. In Q3 2025, revenue per available seat kilometer for major airlines decreased by 1.03%/2.55%/2.72%/2.41%/7.09%/0.47%/5.28%, while costs decreased by 1.84%/3.86%/4.26%/5.54%/4.70%/8.21% [3]. Group 3: Profitability and Market Outlook - Favorable oil prices and exchange rates positively impacted net profits. In Q3 2025, the average price of aviation kerosene was 5593 RMB/ton, down 11.05% year-on-year, and the USD/CNY exchange rate decreased by 0.74%, affecting net profits of major airlines [4]. - Slightly better-than-expected net profits for China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines. In Q3 2025, net profits for major airlines were 36.76/38.40/35.34/27.88/11.67/5.84/3.69 billion RMB, with year-on-year growth rates of -11.31%/+20.26%/34.37%/-0.75%/-6.17%/-25.29%/+31.60% [4]. Group 4: Investment Recommendations - Investment themes include performance elasticity from ticket price increases, recommending major airlines with larger fleets and strong cyclical attributes, as well as Hainan Airlines benefiting from policy advantages and Juneyao Airlines with optimal route networks among private carriers [5]. - Emphasis on the certainty of operational performance, recommending airlines with stable subsidies like China Express Airlines and those with clear cost advantages and neutral exchange rate exposure like Spring Airlines [5].