SINGAPORE (Jan 15): Singapore Airlines Group (SIA) reported a 2.6 percentage point increase in passenger load factor (PLF) for December, due primarily to improved PLF contributions across all its airlines.
In a regulatory filing of its monthly operating results on Wednesday, the group says that its overall airlines’ passenger carriage grew 7.9% from the previous year, outpacing capacity growth of 4.8%.
Notably, SIA’s flagship carrier Singapore Airlines saw a 2.0 percentage point increase in PLF to an all-time high of 87.5%. Passenger carriage increased 8.7% y-o-y against capacity injection of 6.1%. PLF improved for all route regions apart from a marginal decline in the South West Pacific region.
Regional carrier Silkair’s PLF increased 5.1 percentage points to 84.3% as its systemwide passenger carriage fell 7.6% in tandem with a 13.2% contraction in capacity. The group also noted that capacity had contracted as 11 destinations were transferred to budget carrier Scoot in 2019.
Meanwhile, Scoot’s PLF improved 3.2 percentage points to 88.7% as passenger carriage saw a 10.1% improvement against capacity expansion of 6.1%. West Asia recorded improvement in demand, while Rest of World benefitted from stronger connecting traffic.
In December, Scoot had also launched new services from Singapore to Kota Kinabalu, which were previously served by SilkAir.
However, the improved performances of airlines were partially offset by a weaker performance in SIA’s cargo sector.
Overall cargo load factor (CLF) for the month fell 4.2 percentage points to 59.1% as a 9.9% decline in cargo traffic outpaced a 3.6% decline in capacity. All route regions registered declines in CLF.
Shares in Singapore Airlines closed two cents higher, or 0.22% up, at $9.03 on Wednesday.
