Singapore Airlines saw its network-wide passenger load factor increase to a healthy 84.3 per cent during December, albeit largely driven by cuts in capacity.
For the month, the airline’s capacity in available seat kilometres was down 9.2 per cent on the same time last year, helping boost load factor by 4.4 percentage points. The number of passengers carried was down by 4.7 per cent, while passenger kilometres decreased by 4.3 per cent.
The airline said that the reduction in capacity came from cuts in frequencies on a number of routes, as well as the termination of services to Amritsar and Vancouver via Incheon. Positively, it noted that the increase in load factors, which occurred on all markets except South West Pacific (which was 0.1 percentage points lower at 89.7 per cent), reflected the recovery trend in the global economy.
SIA Cargo also fared better, with its load factor increasing by 8.2 percentage points to 63.4 per cent as freight carried increased by 4.8 per cent. Freight capacity during the month was down 7.9 per cent.
