Singapore Airlines and its subsidiary, Scoot, have released figures showing another successful month in their steady climb back to pre-pandemic levels.
The airline has also resumed one of its services to China, suspended since January this year.
Throughout July, the whole of the Singapore Airlines Group carried a total of 2.08 million passengers, representing a 7.6 per cent increase from the previous month.
These were the highest monthly passenger numbers since pre-pandemic levels. The last time the airlines saw more than two million passengers was in 2019.
Both Singapore Airlines and Scoot contributed to the increased passenger totals. Scoot’s passenger levels jumped 15 per cent, rising from 531,000 in June to 612,900 in July.
The budget carrier also significantly increased its load factor to 86 per cent for July, a far cry from its load factor of 8 per cent with 22,100 passengers last year in the same month. Scoot’s success is the result of the lifting of restrictions and open borders across nearly the entirety of Asia.
Singapore Airlines, the group’s flagship carrier, also announced equally impressive numbers, with an increase of 70,000 passengers compared to June and an average load factor of 87.7 per cent.
While the overall numbers were good, the airline struggled in the East Asia region, recording a significantly lower load factor of 72.6 per cent compared to other regions, which all sat at about 85 per cent.
The load factor for the complete Singapore Airlines group sat at 87.4 per cent, coming very close to the group’s record load factor of 87.9 per cent which was recorded in December 2019, just before the onset of the pandemic.
In terms of operational reach, both Scoot and Singapore Airlines are slowly making their way back to pre-pandemic levels. By the end of July, Scoot was operating routes to 87 destinations, while Singapore Airlines has routes operating in 73 destinations.
Among these 73 destinations was Singapore’s recently restarted route to Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport from Singapore Changi Airport. This route has been inactive since January, with the resumption of flights representing an important re-opening of China for the airline.
Singapore Airlines also operates a significant number of services in Australia, with over 110 flights a week to and from the country. The airline operates smaller services from Darwin and Cairns using the 737 MAX for 8 flights from the cities. It also operates in all of Australia major cities, with 21 weekly services to Perth and Brisbane, 28 to both Melbourne and Sydney, and 5 to Adelaide.
