SINGAPORE’S aviation sector appears to be strengthening, as both Singapore Airlines (SIA) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) reported positive numbers on Monday (Apr 18). 

Flag carrier SIA posted a 64 per cent increase in passengers carried in March 2022 at 893,000, up from 544,600 the month before. 

In its March 2022 operating results, SIA also noted that the group’s passenger capacity measured in available seat-kilometres reached 51 per cent of pre-Covid-19 levels in March 2022. 

Furthermore, the group’s passenger load factor improved by 15.4 percentage points to 54.5 per cent month-on-month in March 2022.

In March, the group resumed services to destinations in Australia, South-east Asia as well as Cape Town via Johannesburg, Gatwick via Bangkok and Newark. In total, the group covered 93 destinations in its passenger network, including Singapore, at the end of March 2022. This is around two-thirds of points flown before the pandemic. 

The company further expects passenger capacity to reach around 61 per cent of pre-Covid levels by May 2022. 

SIA also noted that cargo load factor was at 72.5 per cent, 19.8 percentage points lower than its figures a year ago. 

Still, cargo loads rose 16.6 per cent as capacity increased by 48.3 per cent as passenger flights resume progressively. 

“The growth in cargo loads was constrained by pandemic controls in China and Hong Kong, which limited exports from those markets,” the company noted, adding that more bellyhold space was allocated for the carriage of passenger bags as passenger load factors improved. 

CAAS also noted that air passenger traffic in Singapore reached 400,000, or 31 per cent of pre-Covid levels in the week ending Apr 17, 2022. This is up from 18 per cent a month earlier. 

In a media statement on Monday, CAAS said that the increase in air passenger traffic was broad based and follows the reopening of Singapore’s borders to all fully vaccinated travellers from Apr 1 this year. 

“Traffic volume increased for all major markets, with particularly strong growth for traffic to and from Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand,” CAAS said, noting that direct traffic increased for both international and local travellers. Singaporeans and permanent residents made up 32 per cent of total direct traffic.

CAAS director-general Han Kok Juan said: “We are seeing good air travel recovery and expect numbers to further increase, especially in the upcoming May Day-Hari Raya Puasa long weekend and the June school holiday season.”

The number of passenger flights also reached 38 per cent of pre-Covid levels in the same week, from 29 per cent a month ago. 

CAAS said that it is working with the aviation sector to ramp up operations and manpower as air travel recovers, such as through its sector-wide careers promotion and recruitment event OneAviation Careers from May 27 to May 28.