Air China profit falls as weaker yuan hits costs

HONG KONG (AP) — Air China says its six-month profit fell by more than half as the weakening yuan raised financing costs and other expenses.

The carrier late Tuesday reported profit fell to 474.4 million yuan for the January-June period from 1.1 billion yuan last year.

Revenue rose 7 percent to 49 billion yuan, highlighting the underlying strength of China's travel market.

The carrier reported a net foreign currency loss of 721 million yuan ($117 million) for the half year compared with a net gain of 1.2 billion yuan the year before.

China's currency depreciated more than 2 percent in the first half of the year. That made it costlier for the country's airlines to buy jet fuel and repay debt used to buy airplanes from Boeing and Airbus, which are priced in dollars.