Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific up against similar headwinds

Hong Kong

On Thursday, Singapore Airlines reported annual earnings down 55 per cent to S$360 million. That missed analysts' expectations by a long shot and triggered a share drop of more than 6 per cent.

Just as worrying was the fact that the carrier is not filling up its aircraft. Its passenger load factor was a mere 79 per cent for the year, below the break-even level of 80.4 per cent. It has languished at these levels since at least 2012. Rival Cathay has been running fuller flights, but has had to slash ticket prices to attract customers. In March, it posted its first annual loss since 2008.