SIA Group's passenger load factor hit 8.6% in May

SilkAir and Scoot saw the largest declines in passenger carriage.

SIA Group saw its passenger load factor (PLF) hit 8.6% in May, a press release revealed. Passenger carriage plummeted 99.6% YoY, whilst passenger capacity was cut by 96.2%.

SIA’s capacity was 95.6% YoY lower in May, with only a skeletal network in operation connecting Singapore to 14 metro cities. Passenger carriage crashed 99.5%, resulting in a PLF of 9.2%. However, these figures are expected to pick up as the number of destinations and frequencies on some existing services will be increased in June and July, arising from the resumption of transfers via Changi.

Meanwhile, SilkAir's passenger carriage dropped 99.8% YoY against a 99.6% cut in capacity. PLF then fell to 31.7% as SilkAir only operated flights between Singapore and Chongqing in May.

Lastly, Scoot’s passenger carriage plunged 99.9% against a contraction in capacity of 97.5% and leading to a PLF of 2.7%. During the month, Scoot temporarily ceased operations to
Southeast Asia, West Asia and Europe, whilst maintaining flights to Hong Kong and Perth.

On the other hand, the group’s cargo load factor (CLF) rose 14.4 ppt in May as the capacity contraction of 61.9% outpaced the 52.8% decline in cargo traffic (measured in freight tonne kilometres).

“Capacity contraction would have been much greater, save for the deployment of passenger aircraft on cargo-only flights. All regions registered improvements in CLF,” SIA said.