SINGAPORE (March 15): Flagship carrier Singapore Airlines saw passenger load factor (PLF) in February improve 3.2 percentage points to 80.6% from 77.4% a year ago.
Passenger carriage (measured in revenue passenger kilometres) increased 1.3% compared to last year, against a 2.8% reduction in capacity (measured in available seat kilometres).
Boosted by promotional activities, PLF improved for all regions except South West Pacific which declined as capacity growth outpaced demand.
“The competitive landscape remains challenging and promotional efforts will continue in relevant markets,” said the airline group in a filing after the market closed on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, regional carrier SilkAir saw systemwide passenger carriage grew 6.6% year-on-year, trailing capacity growth of 7.9%.
Consequently, PLF declined 0.9 percentage points to 73.1%.
Improvement in passenger carriage for West Asia region exceeded capacity growth, resulting in a 3.5 percentage point increase in PLF, while East Asia and Pacific region recorded a 2.3 percentage point decline in PLF.
Budget carrier Scoot saw systemwide passenger carriage increased by 29.6% year-on-year.
Capacity grew by 32.2% as the number of aircraft increased from 10 to 12.
Consequently, PLF declined by 1.7 percentage points to 85.1%, mainly due to weaker demand arising from the Chinese NewYear holiday falling in January this year, compared with February in 2016.
Tigerair's systemwide passenger carriage increased by 0.4% year-on-year on the back of a 1.3% contraction incapacity.
PLF improved by 1.4 percentage points to 83.0%, mainly due to improvement in South East Asia, partially offset by West Asia.
For SIA Cargo, traffic (measured in freight-tonne-kilometres) declined 2.1% year-on-year.
Cargo capacity contracted by 5.9% mainly due to reduction in freighter capacity. As a result, cargo load factor increased by 2.4 percentage points, as Cargo Load Factor (CLF) improved in East Asia, America and Europe.
Shares of SIA closed 8 Singapore cents lower at S$9.93 before the announcement.