SIA Group's passenger load factor up 0.8 ppt in April

Passenger carriage rose 7.6% compared to last year.

SIA Group’s passenger load factor (PLF) rose 0.8 ppt to 83.5% in April as all of its airlines had posted PLF growth, an announcement revealed.

Passenger carriage grew 7.6% compared to last year, ahead of capacity growth of 6.6%. Its cargo load factor (CLF) was 3.9 ppt lower as cargo traffic fell by 7.5%, exceeding the contraction in cargo capacity of 1.4%. Most route regions registered declines in CLF.

Singapore Airlines' PLF grew 0.7 ppt YoY to 83.2% thanks to an improvement in due to shift in Easter from end-March 2018 to mid-April 2019. Passenger carriage rose 7.4% compared to last year, against capacity injection of 6.6%.

SilkAir’s systemwide passenger carriage increased marginally by 0.1%, against a capacity decline of 3.0% as it was affected by route transfers to Scoot and the temporary withdrawal of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet from service. PLF increased 2.4 ppt to 78.1%.

Meanwhile, Scoot recorded passenger carriage growth of 10.9% against a capacity injection of 10.1%, leading to a 0.7 ppt increase in PLF to 86.8%. PLF improved for West Asia and Rest of World, whilst East Asia recorded declines. During the month, Scoot had also launched its inaugural flight from Singapore to Laos, marking the start of its three-times-weekly flights from Singapore to Luang Prabang and Vientiane.