Singapore Airlines’ passenger load factor down to 77% in January 2012

The airline’s passenger load factor weakened across most regions as capacity expansion outstripped growth in passenger carriage.

According to a company statement, Singapore Airlines recorded 2.4% year-on-year growth in systemwide passenger carriage (measured in revenue passenger kilometres) while capacity (measured in available seat kilometres) grew by 3.8% in January 2012. As a result, passenger load factor declined 1.1 percentage points to 77.0%. The number of passengers carried increased by 1.7% over the same period the previous year.

Except for Americas and Europe, PLF generally weakened across most regions as capacity expansion outstripped growth in passenger carriage. PLF declined in the West Asia and Africa region due to softer travel demand. SilkAir’s systemwide passenger carriage increased 13.2% year-on-year against 13.7% growth in capacity.

As a result, PLF declined by 0.3 percentage point to 76.2%. PLF on West Asia routes declined compared to the same period the previous year as growth in traffic lagged that of capacity increases. The PLF on East Asia routes increased by 1.0 percentage point, due to increased demand over the Lunar New Year period.

Overall cargo traffic (measured in freight-tonne-kilometres) was 12.8% lower than the same period the previous year, while cargo capacity decreased by 8.5%. Consequently, the overall load factor in January 2012 decreased by 2.9 percentage points. All regions were affected by the seasonal slowing of airfreight activities due to the Lunar New Year holidays which was in January this year compared to February in 2011.