After undergoing bankruptcy restructuring, Yuhe Aviation Company auctioned off an Airbus A300 aircraft on the Jingdong platform on July 21. However, after two days of auction, no one placed a bid, leading to the announcement of the plane being unsold on July 22.
This incident marked the second failed auction of the Airbus A300 aircraft. Prior to this, Yuhe Aviation also attempted to auction off two Boeing 747 planes on the Jingdong platform, which also ended up unsold for two consecutive times.
In March of this year, the Huangpi District Court in Wuhan, Hubei Province issued a civil ruling declaring Yuhe Aviation Company bankrupt. It became the first Chinese airline to file for bankruptcy post-pandemic.
Established in 2008, Yuhe Aviation primarily engaged in air cargo transportation, with its main base at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport and operational bases in Shenzhen, Kunming, Tianjin, among other locations. At its peak, the company owned 13 Boeing and Airbus large and medium-sized freighters.
It was reported by China’s “Caixin” that even prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019, several freighters under Yuhe Aviation had already been grounded. The macroeconomic environment, tightening financial credit policies, and the prolonged downturn in the international air cargo market led to operational difficulties for Yuhe Aviation and other companies.
Following the outbreak of the pandemic, air transport companies with freighters became crucial carriers for essential medical supplies like masks. In April 2020, Yuhe Aviation planned to resume operations, but the company’s financial issues remained unresolved. Despite negotiations for financing and restructuring with multiple parties, the startup capital for resuming flights never materialized. Eventually, the company could not escape the fate of having its assets auctioned off. According to information disclosed by the court, the total amount of debt claims declared by creditors reached 8.321 billion yuan.
The aviation industry in China has been severely impacted by the pandemic, with lingering effects to date. According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s “2022 Civil Aviation Industry Development Statistics Bulletin,” the industry accumulated losses of 217.44 billion yuan in 2022, an increase of 137.46 billion yuan compared to the previous year.