SIA Q3 posts record operating profit on robust demand for air travel
FLAG carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) posted record operating profits for its third quarter (Q3) on the back of robust demand for air travel across its network.
Operating profit for the three months ended Dec 31, 2022, rose 11.4 per cent to S$755 million, up from S$678 million in the second quarter – which was itself a quarterly record then.
Net profit for Q3 rose 12.7 per cent to S$628 million, up from S$557 million in the preceding quarter. Earnings per share stood at 10.3 Singapore cents in Q3, up from 8.6 Singapore cents in the second quarter.
This was mainly due to the continued building of momentum that began after Singapore relaxed its border restrictions in April 2022, SIA said on Tuesday (Feb 21).
The airline’s passenger capacity reached 80 per cent of pre-Covid levels in December 2022, it said, adding that SIA and Scoot combined to ferry 7.4 million passengers in Q3, up 17 per cent from the previous quarter.
Passenger load factors for the group improved 0.8 percentage points to 87.4 per cent – the highest for any quarter – on the back of record load factors for both SIA (87.3 per cent) and Scoot (87.8 per cent).
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Revenue for the group gained 8 per cent to S$4.8 billion in Q3, up from S$4.5 billion in the preceding quarter.
For the nine months ended Dec 31, 2022, SIA’s revenue more than doubled to S$13.3 billion from S$5.1 billion in the corresponding period.
Net profit for the period stood at S$1.6 billion, reversing a S$752 million net loss from the same period in 2021.
“With the relaxation of travel restrictions to selected key markets, the group reinstated services to destinations in China and Indonesia, and added frequencies to Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, and points in Japan,” SIA said.
Demand for air travel is expected to be “robust” in the fourth quarter, SIA said, as travel restrictions ease across China, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan, adding: “Forward sales remain strong across all markets for both leisure and business travel, as well as all cabin classes.”
However, this will be moderated by demand for air freight, which is expected to “face headwinds”, SIA said, due to macroeconomic concerns and a slowdown in new orders as importers trim inventory levels.
The counter closed unchanged at S$5.78 on Tuesday, prior to the announcement.
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