SIA reports lower passenger carriage in November; cargo improves

SINGAPORE Airlines's (SIA) systemwide passenger carriage dropped 3.8 per cent year on year in November, against a 2.1 per cent reduction in capacity.

Passenger load factor (PLF) declined 1.3 percentage points to 75.7 per cent, while the number of passengers carried fell 1.6 per cent to 1.52 million.

PLF improved for East Asia and South West Pacific due in part to better demand, but demand was weaker for Americas and Europe.

Said SIA in a statement released on Monday: "The operating environment remains competitive and challenging. Capacity will be adjusted accordingly to better match market demand and promotional activities will continue in relevant markets."

SilkAir's systemwide passenger carriage rose 5.8 per cent year on year in November, compared to a 2.5 per cent increase in capacity. PLF improved by 2.1 percentage points to 70.9 per cent.

Meanwhile, SIA's overall cargo load factor went up by 3.8 percentage points as cargo traffic (measured in freight-tonne-kilometres) was 1.7 per cent higher, against an overall capacity reduction of 4.1 per cent.

The cargo load factor improved on all route regions; SIA added that good seasonal demand on the South West Pacific routes boosted load factors.