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China's largest budget airline, offering no-frills domestic and regional international flights from its Shanghai base.
China's largest budget airline, offering no-frills domestic and regional international flights from its Shanghai base.
Sells cheap seats online and charges extra for baggage, seat choice and food, relying on long daily flying hours, quick turnarounds and ancillary fees. It began in 2004 as an airline set up by a Shanghai travel agency, and the founding Wang family keeps control through its travel group.
In one line: China's Spirit Airlines/Southwest.
Moat: narrow (cost advantage). Single-aircraft-type, high-utilization low-cost model keeps unit costs below full-service rivals.
Headquarters: Shanghai, China · Founded: 2004 · Employees: 8,496
Size Spring Airlines (601021.SS) is a China Industrials company (Airlines) with a market value of $6.51B, the 377th largest of 4,839 China companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at CN¥44.37 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 6.0%, against +11.8% for the median peer and -16.4% for the China market (cap-weighted) — 5th lowest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 15.6% over the last twelve months (peer median +9.9%); the operating margin is 6.2% (peer median 5.7%).
Valuation It trades at 26.0× forward earnings against a peer median of 12.0× (3rd most expensive of 15).
Capital Return on invested capital runs 1.8 points below its cost of capital (5.0% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 23 Apr 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | CN¥24.0B | CN¥21.4B | CN¥20.0B | CN¥17.9B | CN¥8.35B |
| Revenue growth | — | +7% | +11% | +115% | — |
| Gross profit | CN¥2.30B | CN¥2.87B | CN¥2.56B | CN¥2.36B | -CN¥3.27B |
| EBITDA | CN¥4.73B | CN¥5.22B | CN¥4.67B | CN¥4.22B | -CN¥1.39B |
| Net income | CN¥1.82B | CN¥2.32B | CN¥2.27B | CN¥2.26B | -CN¥3.04B |
| Free cash flow | -CN¥131M | CN¥510M | -CN¥1.07B | CN¥3.83B | -CN¥4.01B |
| Capital expenditure | CN¥7.58B | CN¥6.33B | CN¥7.21B | CN¥3.21B | CN¥4.57B |
| Total debt | CN¥26.6B | CN¥21.8B | CN¥19.7B | CN¥24.3B | CN¥26.8B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Airlines 601021.SS | $6.51B | -6% | +16% | 6% | 26.0× | n/a |
| Juneyao Airlines 603885.SS | $3.42B | -8% | +8% | 1% | 69.5× | 0.4% |
| China Eastern Airlines 600115.SS | $10.7B | -18% | +11% | -6% | n/a | 6.9% |
| China Southern Airlines 600029.SS | $12.2B | -4% | +8% | -3% | n/a | n/a |
| Air China 601111.SS | $15.3B | -7% | +9% | -7% | n/a | 10.0% |
| Hainan Airlines 600221.SS | $7.85B | -20% | +6% | -3% | 24.2× | 5.0% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | 601021.SS | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +11.9% | +5.7% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -6.0% | +11.8% | 5th lowest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -26.6% | -14.6% | 9th lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +15.6% | +9.9% | 5th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 6.2% | 5.7% | 10th highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 26.0× | 12.0× | 3rd most expensive of 15 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -1.8 pp | +0.1 pp | 6th lowest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 12.8× | 4.9× | most expensive of 14 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.6× | 1.9× | 6th most indebted of 18 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Airlines 601021.SS | China | $6.51B | -6% | +16% | 6% | 26.0× | n/a | n/a |
| easyJet EZJ.L | United Kingdom | $6.96B | +90% | +10% | 5% | 68.9× | 4.8% | +27.4% |
| Eva Airways 2618.TW | Taiwan | $7.12B | +28% | +6% | 14% | 10.1× | -17.0% | +19.9% |
| Air China Cargo 001391.SZ | China | $7.12B | -21% | +10% | 9% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Copa CPA | United States | $5.87B | +16% | +15% | 19% | 9.0× | n/a | n/a |
| Hainan Airlines 600221.SS | China | $7.85B | -20% | +6% | -3% | 24.2× | 5.0% | +18.4% |
| KAL 003490.KS | South Korea | $7.99B | +20% | +21% | 2% | 21.1× | n/a | n/a |
| American Airlines AAL | United States | $8.73B | -1% | +12% | 2% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Exchange Income EIF.TO | Canada | $4.77B | +13% | +33% | 11% | 24.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Japan Airlines 9201.T | Japan | $9.08B | +34% | +10% | 8% | 15.3× | -9.7% | +33.1% |
| Alaska Air ALK | United States | $4.35B | -5% | +8% | -1% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Ana 9202.T | Japan | $9.77B | +24% | +17% | 8% | 13.1× | -10.0% | +28.4% |
| Qantas Airways QAN.AX | Australia | $9.79B | +9% | +8% | 7% | 10.9× | n/a | n/a |
| Air France-KLM AF.PA | France | $3.99B | +34% | +5% | 6% | 4.7× | -6.3% | +24.4% |
| China Eastern Airlines 600115.SS | China | $10.7B | -18% | +11% | -6% | n/a | 6.9% | +19.0% |
| Air Canada AC.TO | Canada | $3.95B | +10% | +13% | 2% | n/a | 14.3% | +30.8% |
| China Airlines 2610.TW | Taiwan | $3.94B | +17% | +8% | 8% | 9.9× | n/a | n/a |
| Deutsche Lufthansa LHA.DE | Germany | $11.4B | +7% | +8% | -1% | 9.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Cathay Pacific Airways 0293.HK | Hong Kong | $11.7B | +19% | +20% | 11% | 8.1× | -12.4% | +20.0% |
| China Southern Airlines 600029.SS | China | $12.2B | -4% | +8% | -3% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Juneyao Airlines 603885.SS | China | $3.42B | -8% | +8% | 1% | 69.5× | 0.4% | +17.4% |