The Singapore Airlines (SIA) group says that border controls and travel restrictions continue to affect its operations amidst the emergence of more virulent strains of the virus.
This comes as SIA reported April group passenger capacity that was up 627% y-o-y, though this was due to the low base in April 2020 given the impact of the pandemic outbreak. Passenger carriage grew 921% y-o-y, while passenger load factor (PLF) was up 4.6 percentage points y-o-y.
On a m-o-m basis, group passenger capacity grew 5.8%, while passenger carriage was up 10.2% m-o-m and PLF was up 0.9 percentage points.
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In its operating results update on May 17, SIA states that passenger capacity has been gradually increased over the past 12 months, and currently stands at around 24% of pre-Covid levels as of April.
Singapore Airlines and SilkAir, saw passenger capacity grow 626% y-o-y and 1.8% m-o-m, while passenger carriage grew 889% y-o-y and 9.3% m-o-m. PLF was up 4.9 percentage points y-o-y and 1.5 percentage points m-o-m.
Singapore Airlines’ network covered 49 destinations, including the re-introduction of Taipei services, as well as the transfer of Medan from SilkAir as part of the ongoing integration of narrow-body operations. To that end, SilkAir’s network reduced to only three destinations (Cebu, Kathmandu and Singapore). Overall, including Singapore, the combined network for the group's full-service carriers grew from 50 destinations in March to 51 destinations at the end of April.
Scoot, SIA’s low-cost carrier subsidiary, served 19 destinations (including Singapore) as of the end of April with the reinstatement of flights to Macau.
Scoot’s passenger capacity grew 641% y-o-y and 54.3% m-o-m. Passenger carriage grew 13 times y-o-y and 14.2% m-o-m, while PLF was up 2.5 percentage points y-o-y and 3.4 percentage points m-o-m.
SIA Cargo registered a monthly cargo load factor (CLF) of 92.1%, which was 16.5 percentage points higher year-on-year, as cargo traffic rose by 82.7% on the back of a capacity expansion of 49.9%. All route regions except West Asia and Africa recorded year-on-year increases in CLF during the month.
Shares in SIA closed 14 cents or 3.11% higher at $4.64 on May 17.
