UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 6-K

Report of Foreign Private Issuer

Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16

under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

For the month of January 2023

Commission File Number: 001-14550

China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

Board Secretariat’s Office

5/F, Block A2, Northern District, CEA Building

36 Hongxiang 3rd Road, Minhang District

Shanghai, China 200335

(Address of principal executive offices)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F:

☒ Form 20-F ☐ Form 40-F

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934:

☐ Yes ☒ No

If “Yes” is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): n/a

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.


		China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited
			(Registrant)

Date	January 17, 2023	By	/s/ Wang Jian
			Name: Wang Jian
			Title: Company Secretary

Certain statements contained in this announcement may be regarded as “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual performance, financial condition or results of operations of the Company to be materially different from any future performance, financial condition or results of operations implied by such forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these risks, uncertainties and other factors is included in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this announcement represent the Company’s views as of the date of this announcement. While the Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause the Company’s views to change, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, unless required by applicable laws. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this announcement.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement.

LOGO

INSIDE INFORMATION

OVERSEAS REGULATORY ANNOUNCEMENT

ANNOUNCEMENT ON

OPERATING DATA FOR DECEMBER 2022

This overseas regulatory announcement is made pursuant to Rule 13.09 and Rule 13.10B of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the “Listing Rules”) and the Inside Information Provisions (as defined under the Listing Rules) under Part XIVA of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Chapter 571 of the Laws of Hong Kong).

China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited (the “Company”) and all members of the board of directors confirm that the information contained in this announcement is true, accurate and complete, and no misrepresentations, misleading statements or material omissions are contained herein.

I.	OPERATIONS

In December 2022, the Company’s passenger transportation capacity (measured by available seat-kilometres) decreased by 33.50% year-on-year, among which, the passenger transportation capacity of its domestic routes decreased by 36.76% year-on-year, while the passenger transportation capacity of its international and regional routes increased by 68.95% and 8.83% year-on-year, respectively; passenger traffic volume (measured by revenue passenger kilometres) decreased by 28.67% year-on-year, among which, the passenger traffic volume of its domestic and regional routes decreased by 32.28% and 2.92% year-on-year, respectively, while the passenger traffic volume of its international routes increased by 113.99% year-on-year; and passenger load factor increased by 4.28 percentage points year-on-year to 63.28%, among which, the passenger load factor of its domestic and international routes increased by 4.19 percentage points and 13.08 percentage points year-on-year, respectively, while the passenger load factor of its regional routes decreased by 6.81 percentage points.

In relation to freight transportation, the freight transportation business of the Company includes passenger aircraft cargo business under conventional circumstances (mainly passenger aircraft bellyhold space business) and passenger aircraft cargo business under unconventional circumstances (mainly “Passenger-to-Cargo Conversion” business), and such business is under exclusive operation by China Cargo Airlines Co., Ltd. In December 2022, freight traffic volume (measured by revenue freight tonne-kilometres) decreased by 39.47% year-on-year.

In December 2022, the Company launched new routes, such as Nanchang — Guilin, Dalian — Yuncheng, Fuzhou — Bangkok, Hong Kong — Wuhan and Fuzhou — Kuala Lumpur.

II.

FLEET STRUCTURE

In December 2022, the Company introduced eight aircraft in total, including four A320 series aircraft, one A350 series aircraft, one C919 series aircraft, two ARJ series aircraft and there was no aircraft retired this month. As of the end of December 2022, the Company operated a total of 775 aircraft, including 270 self-owned aircraft, 279 aircraft under finance lease and 226 aircraft under operating lease.

Details of the fleet structure were as follows:


								(Units)
No.	Model	Self-owned		Under finance lease		Under operating lease		Sub-total
	Wide-body passenger aircraft		44		52		5		101
1	B777 series		10		10		0		20
2	B787 series		3		7		0		10
3	A350 series		1		14		0		15
4	A330 series		30		21		5		56
	Narrow-body passenger aircraft		224		212		221		657
5	A320 series		122		139		111		372
6	B737 series		102		72		110		284
7	C919		0		1		0		1
	Regional aircraft		2		15		0		17
8	ARJ series		2		15		0		17
	Total		270		279		226		775

Note: The three business aircraft of the Company were not included in the above fleet structure.

III.

MAJOR OPERATING DATA


	Amount completed in December		Amount completed in December		Year-on- year			Total amount completed in December		Total amount completed in December		Year-on- year
	2022		2021		increase			2022		2021		increase
Passenger Transportation Data ASK (available-seat-kilometres) (millions)		7,525.77		11,317.47		-33.50	%		96,179.66		160,690.39		-40.15	%
— Domestic routes		6,909.36		10,925.96		-36.76	%		92,181.27		156,017.64		-40.92	%
— International routes		534.86		316.57		68.95	%		3,571.14		3,941.92		-9.41	%
— Regional routes		81.56		74.94		8.83	%		427.25		730.83		-41.54	%
RPK (revenue passenger- kilometres) (millions)		4,762.56		6,676.91		-28.67	%		61,271.60		108,803.69		-43.69	%
— Domestic routes		4,384.14		6,474.24		-32.28	%		59,019.01		106,605.49		-44.64	%
— International routes		332.54		155.40		113.99	%		2,014.18		1,788.51		12.62	%
— Regional routes		45.89		47.27		-2.92	%		238.41		409.69		-41.81	%
Number of passengers carried (thousands)		3,168.02		4,814.35		-34.20	%		42,527.60		79,099.06		-46.24	%
— Domestic routes		3,077.98		4,759.62		-35.33	%		42,044.92		78,557.34		-46.48	%
— International routes		59.03		23.24		154.00	%		322.06		267.21		20.53	%
— Regional routes		31.01		31.49		-1.52	%		160.63		274.50		-41.48	%
Passenger load factor (%)		63.28		59.00		4.28	pts		63.71		67.71		-4.00	pts
— Domestic routes		63.45		59.26		4.19	pts		64.02		68.33		-4.31	pts
— International routes		62.17		49.09		13.08	pts		56.40		45.37		11.03	pts
— Regional routes		56.26		63.07		-6.81	pts		55.80		56.06		-0.26	pts
Freight Transportation Data AFTK (available freight tonne-kilometres) (millions)		400.02		782.31		-48.87	%		6,345.62		9,077.33		-30.09	%
— Domestic routes		104.28		217.94		-52.15	%		1,357.35		3,093.45		-56.12	%
— International routes		289.90		558.95		-48.13	%		4,944.03		5,932.12		-16.66	%
— Regional routes		5.85		5.42		7.93	%		44.24		51.76		-14.53	%


	Amount completed in December		Amount completed in December		Year-on- year			Total amount completed in December		Total amount completed in December		Year-on- year
	2022		2021		increase			2022		2021		increase
RFTK (Revenue freight tonne- kilometres) (millions)		185.17		305.92		-39.47	%		2,608.02		3,393.40		-23.14	%
— Domestic routes		38.55		81.36		-52.62	%		524.03		865.28		-39.44	%
— International routes		145.81		223.46		-34.75	%		2,074.68		2,517.15		-17.58	%
— Regional routes		0.81		1.10		-26.36	%		9.31		10.96		-15.05	%
Weight of freight carried (million kg)		48.46		87.85		-44.84	%		652.23		920.04		-29.11	%
— Domestic routes		26.77		55.60		-51.85	%		352.04		594.09		-40.74	%
— International routes		20.90		31.13		-32.86	%		290.85		314.88		-7.63	%
— Regional routes		0.78		1.11		-29.73	%		9.34		11.06		-15.55	%
Freight load factor (%)		46.29		39.10		7.19	pts		41.10		37.38		3.72	pts
— Domestic routes		36.97		37.33		-0.36	pts		38.61		27.97		10.64	pts
— International routes		50.30		39.98		10.32	pts		41.96		42.43		-0.47	pts
— Regional routes		13.92		20.35		-6.43	pts		21.04		21.18		-0.14	pts
Consolidated Data ATK (available tonne-kilometres) (millions)		1,077.34		1,800.88		-40.18	%		15,001.79		23,539.47		-36.27	%
— Domestic routes		726.12		1,201.28		-39.55	%		9,653.66		17,135.04		-43.66	%
— International routes		338.03		587.44		-42.46	%		5,265.44		6,286.89		-16.25	%
— Regional routes		13.19		12.17		8.38	%		82.69		117.54		-29.65	%
RTK (revenue tonne- kilometres) (millions)		607.94		903.20		-32.69	%		8,023.00		13,046.71		-38.51	%
— Domestic routes		428.20		660.66		-35.19	%		5,741.60		10,323.79		-44.38	%
— International routes		174.86		237.23		-26.29	%		2,251.01		2,675.86		-15.88	%
— Regional routes		4.88		5.31		-8.10	%		30.39		47.06		-35.42	%
Overall load factor (%)		56.43		50.15		6.28	pts		53.48		55.42		-1.94	pts
— Domestic routes		58.97		55.00		3.97	pts		59.48		60.25		-0.77	pts
— International routes		51.73		40.38		11.35	pts		42.75		42.56		0.19	pts
— Regional routes		37.01		43.66		-6.65	pts		36.75		40.04		-3.29	pts

Note: Freight transportation data only contained data of passenger aircraft bellyhold space and Passenger-to-Cargo Conversion. The table does not contain data of the fleet of cargo aircraft.

IV.

RISK ALERT

The board of directors of the Company hereby reminds investors that the operating data set forth above was compiled in accordance with the Company’s internal information which has not been audited and may be subject to adjustment. The operating data set forth above may differ from the data disclosed in any regular report for the relevant period. The Company reserves its rights to adjust the operating data based on audit findings and the actual situation. The monthly operating data disclosed by the Company only serves as preliminary and periodical data for investors’ reference. Investors are hereby reminded of the investment risks which may result from inappropriate reliance upon or utilisation of the information above.

The COVID-19 pandemic still has a significant impact on the business of the Company, while the time span and severity of which has great uncertainty. Investors are reminded of the risks thereof.

The data set forth above is published on the website of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (www.sse.com.cn), the website of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (www.hkex.com.hk) and the column “Investor Relations” on the website of the Company (www.ceair.com).


		By order of the Board
		CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES CORPORATION LIMITED
		Wang Jian
		Company Secretary
		Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China 16 January 2023

As at the date of this announcement, the directors of the Company include Li Yangmin (Vice Chairman, President), Tang Bing (Director), Lin Wanli (Director), Cai Hongping (Independent non-executive Director), Dong Xuebo (Independent non-executive Director), Sun Zheng (Independent non-executive Director), Lu Xiongwen (Independent non-executive Director) and Jiang Jiang (Employee Representative Director).

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES CORP LTD 6-K