600004 · SSE · China
baiyunport.comFinancials as of FY2025
Runs Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, the main gateway for 70 million people in southern China's Pearl River Delta.
What this company is and how it runs — written from structure, not news.
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport holds the operating concession for the main gateway serving 70 million people in the Pearl River Delta, where every landing and takeoff requires a runway slot allocated by the CAAC, the Chinese aviation regulator. Because the CAAC sets a hard ceiling on daily aircraft movements, the airport cannot simply add flights when demand grows — at peak holidays like Chinese New Year, demand already exceeds what the slot allocation allows, so more revenue requires a new regulatory award, not a capital decision. China Southern Airlines has built its hub around Baiyun's existing slots, gates, and ground handling contracts, and moving even part of those operations to Shenzhen or Hong Kong would mean surrendering the slot portfolio and rebuilding everything from scratch over several years, which is why the airline stays anchored and its passengers keep filling the duty-free shops, car parks, and restaurants that make the terminal commercially valuable. The whole structure depends on the CAAC leaving Baiyun's international slot allocation intact — if the regulator shifted those slots to Shenzhen or restricted Baiyun's international routes to protect another state-owned carrier's hub, China Southern's reason to stay weakens and the passenger volumes underpinning both the landing fees and the retail concessions would fall at the same time.
How does this company make money?
The airport charges a fee for every aircraft that lands or takes off and for every passenger processed through its immigration facilities — these are the aeronautical fees. On top of that, it collects rent and a share of sales from the duty-free shops, restaurants, and parking facilities inside the terminal, plus fees from airlines for ground handling services. When more flights arrive and more passengers walk through, both income streams rise together.
What makes this company hard to replace?
Airlines that have already signed ground handling contracts and been assigned specific gates at Baiyun face a long, expensive process to rebuild those arrangements at Shenzhen or Hong Kong. Cargo operators have built their customs clearance and freight handling workflows around Baiyun's specific facilities, and rerouting those networks takes significant operational work. Passengers and ground transport providers are also oriented toward Baiyun because the Airport Express rail line and dedicated highway connections all terminate there, making it hard to redirect those physical flows to another airport.
What limits this company?
The CAAC sets the hard ceiling on how many flights can use Baiyun each day. During Chinese New Year and Golden Week, demand already fills every available slot. Adding more revenue at those peaks is impossible until the CAAC grants new slots — that is a government decision, not something the airport can solve by spending money or hiring more staff.
What does this company depend on?
The airport cannot operate without the CAAC's licenses and slot allocations, which are the legal permission for every flight. China Southern Airlines is the anchor tenant whose hub traffic keeps the terminal full. Passengers reach the airport via the Guangzhou Metro Airport Express Line and the Airport Expressway, so disruption to either affects how many people show up. Aviation fuel comes through China National Aviation Fuel, a state-controlled supplier the airport has no practical alternative to.
Who depends on this company?
China Southern Airlines would face severe capacity problems if Baiyun's international terminal were unavailable — there is no ready replacement for its hub. Pearl River Delta manufacturers shipping electronics and textiles to Europe and North America rely on Baiyun's cargo facilities for time-sensitive exports. Guangzhou's tourism industry depends on Baiyun for direct international flights; without it, visitors would have to connect through Beijing or Shanghai instead.
How does this company scale?
Every extra passenger walking through the existing terminal spends money at duty-free shops, restaurants, and car parks with almost no added cost to the airport — that revenue scales cheaply once the infrastructure is in place. But the runway and terminal themselves cannot be expanded without multi-billion dollar construction projects that require CAAC approval, land acquisition, and five to ten years of building work, so physical capacity remains the hard limit on how much the whole system can grow.
What external forces can significantly affect this company?
Chinese government aviation policy controls which international routes Baiyun can operate and which foreign airlines can fly there, and a policy shift to protect other state-owned carrier hubs could cut international traffic sharply. When the Renminbi weakens, Chinese travelers spend less on duty-free goods and are less likely to fly internationally, which hits commercial revenue. Hong Kong's political situation and its border policies affect how many Pearl River Delta residents choose Baiyun over Hong Kong as their international departure point.
Where is this company structurally vulnerable?
If the CAAC redirected Baiyun's international flight slots to Shenzhen, or blocked Baiyun from adding international routes to shield other state-owned airline hubs, China Southern would have less reason to stay anchored at Baiyun. Fewer hub flights means fewer passengers, and fewer passengers means both the per-flight fees and the duty-free and restaurant revenue fall at the same time.
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2 interpretations currently present — each is a set of fired observations whose alignment reads as one structural pattern. Click an observation to see the numbers behind it.
Screen for these patternsHow does this company use capital?
Three observations co-occur: the weighted composite of net cash relative to market cap, OCF/revenue, operating margin, and ROE is in its elevated range; revenue increased every year for three years; net income was positive every year for three years. The configuration describes a present-state combination of capital structure, cash generation, profitability, and top-line growth.
How is this stock valued?
Three observations co-occur: price is several standard deviations below its one-year mean, the company has reported positive net income every year for three years, and book value has increased every year for four years. The set describes a depressed-price profile alongside fundamental stability and equity accumulation.
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