SIA Group’s July passenger traffic grows 2.6% amid growing passenger capacity
Cargo loads have been stable year on year, even with reduced freighter aircraft activity
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[SINGAPORE] Passenger traffic in the Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group increased 2.6 per cent year on year in July, after SIA and Scoot carried a combined 3.7 million passengers, 4 per cent more than the year-ago period.
Passenger capacity increased 5.5 per cent, driven mainly by network expansion to East Asia, Europe and the south-west Pacific, the airline group said on Monday (Aug 17) in a bourse filing detailing its operating results for July.
This resulted in a passenger load factor (PLF) of 86 per cent. SIA and Scoot posted monthly PLFs of 84.8 per cent and 90.2 per cent, respectively.
The passenger traffic figures come after SIA Group reported its first-quarter results, which showed record revenue of S$5.7 billion and a record 10.9 million passengers carried.
However, higher fuel costs linked to the Middle East conflict, together with a larger share of Air India’s losses, pushed the group to a net loss of S$76 million, its first quarterly loss since the pandemic.
Capacity also grew slightly faster than passenger traffic during the quarter. Experts said the results suggest that passenger demand is holding up well, despite the challenging operating environment.
In July, SIA’s cargo demand strengthened as well.
Cargo loads were stable year on year, even as reduced freighter aircraft activity due to maintenance contributed to a 1.5 per cent decline in cargo capacity. Consequently, the cargo load factor rose by 0.8 percentage point to 57.9 per cent.
On the network front, Scoot suspended services to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from Jul 14 following the escalating conflict in the Middle East. SIA’s services to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates remained suspended.
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As at end-July, the SIA Group’s passenger network comprised 136 destinations in 35 countries and territories.
The full-service carrier served 78 destinations, while Scoot covered 84 destinations.
Its cargo network comprised 139 destinations in 36 countries and territories, including Singapore.
Shares of SIA closed at S$7.10 on Monday, up 0.7 per cent, or S$0.05, before the announcement.
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