SIA churns out best monthly operating figures since 2007

It trimmed capacity to boost load factor.

Singapore Airlines reported an improvement in systemwide passenger carriage for the month of July, as the national carrier trimmed capacity to boost results.

SIA reported that overall passenger carriage, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, improved 2.1% year on year on back of a 1.5% reduction in capacity.

Consequently, passenger load factor (PLF) improved 2.9 percentage points to 84.6%. SIA said that the growth in passenger carriage was also supported by promotional activities in relevant markets.

According to Maybank Kim Eng, this represents SIA's best monthly results since 2007 and supports the view that the group will deliver better profitability in the second half.

“We believe that the better load factor performance is primarily driven by lower yields. But we take respite that this strategy is successfully gathering higher traffic flow and that SIA products are always desirable if the price is right. [SIA's current] valuations are not justified for a company that will deliver good earnings growth and strong cash flows going forward,” Maybank Kim Eng noted.