Singapore airfares on popular travel routes fall 5% in 2017

Robust demand for air travel services kept airfares down.

Airfares for key business routes and popular tourist destinations like Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, New York, Shanghai fell more than 5% YoY in January to September 2017 compared to the previous time period, according to Business Travel Pulse Singapore released by CWT Solutions Group and CAPA Aviation Centre.

Airfares for Hong Kong, London, Sydney, Houston routes also fell by 1-5% YoY.

“Singapore remains one of the most competitive aviation markets in the world and this, along with lower oil prices, has pushed airfares down over the past year,” said Richard Johnson, director, Asia Pacific, CWT Solutions Group as quoted in a TTG Asia report.

Singapore’s main airport, Changi Airport, has more than 80 operational airlines, connecting Singapore to more than 90 countries and territories across the world.

The report noted that the newly opened terminal 4 at Changi will alleviate capacity pressures as it can hold 16 million passengers.

In terms of passenger load, Changi Airport handled 41 million passengers from January to August, a 5.7% YoY increase.

“Passenger traffic was supported by growth across all regions, with air travel to and from South Asia, Africa and the Americas rising by double digits.” 

Meanwhile, hotel occupancy rate remained flat at 82.1% YoY, a decrease of 0.3 percentage point.