Why are Chinese airline companies cutting flights?

by caribb via FlickrAFP reports that two major Chinese airlines have been temporarily cutting down the number of flights, following similar cuts by other international carriers. The official reason: the high fuel prices.

China Southern has the largest cuts:
the state news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday that the airline would cut flights from southern China's Guangzhou to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam and Angkor, Cambodia from June to September.

The company will also offer fewer flights between Guangzhou and Hong Kong, and Singapore during that same period and services between Beijing and Seoul will also be affected, the report said, citing an unnamed employee.

Other routes facing cuts include Los Angeles, Paris, Sydney, Jakarta, Lagos, Dubai, Delhi, Penang in Malaysia and Fukuoka in Japan, the employee was quoted as saying.

China Eastern has similar plans, but comes with the right argument:

However, company spokesman Luo Zhuping said smaller than expected demand was also a factor in the decision to reduce the number of flights on some routes.

Airline companies do not care about the fuel prices as long as we suckers are willing to pay their prices. So, demand is down. Wasn't there is other issue that is bringing travel to China down, the visa-problem? My take: visa problems have a larger influence on the airlines decision to cut down the number of flights that the fuel prices.