SIA Group passenger load factor up 1.6ppt to 86.2% in June

Passenger carriage rose 8.5% YoY.

SIA Group airlines’ passenger load factor (PLF) inched up 1.6ppt YoY to 86.2%. The group’s passenger carriage (measured in revenue passenger-kilometres) increased 8.5% YoY, ahead of capacity (measured in available seat-kilometres) growth of 6.5%.

Cargo load factor (CLF) was 2.3ppt lower, as cargo traffic (measured in freight tonne-kilometres) fell 2.4% against a capacity increase of 1.6%. All route regions registered declines in CLF, except Americas.

For Singapore Airlines (SIA), PLF grew 1.8ppt YoY to 86.7%. Passenger carriage increased 10.1% YoY, against capacity injection of 7.8%. The carrier’s PLF improved for all route regions except for the Americas which registered a marginal decline against last year due to capacity growth.

SilkAir’s system-wide passenger carriage increased 6.3%, against a capacity reduction of 0.5%. Route transfers to Scoot and the withdrawal of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet from service affected SilkAir's capacity. PLF increased 5.2 ppt to 81.0%, with improvements across all route regions.

Meanwhile, Scoot's passenger carriage rose 3.7%, trailing growth in capacity of 4.5%. PLF fell 0.7ppt to 86.2%. PLF improved for West Asia, whilst East Asia and Rest of World recorded declines, as demand did not keep pace with increases in capacity.

The group noted that in June, Scoot launched new routes from Singapore to Changsha and Kunming, which were previously served by SilkAir.