SIA passenger capacity up 20.5% MoM in December

A continued expansion of the VTL program strengthened this performance. 

Singapore Airlines (SIA) reported a passenger capacity month-on-month (MoM) increase of 20.5% for the month of December.

This was 45% of pre-COVID levels. 

Group passenger carriage for the airline was also close to 600,000, or almost double the recorded value from the previous month. 

Meanwhile, the group passenger load factor for the month jumped by 17.4 percentage points MoM to reach a total of 46.5%. 

Cargo operations, however, would buckle this positive trend with a 9.9 percentage point decrease year-on-year to 78.8% cargo load factor (CLF). The 35,8% growth in loads lagged behind the capacity expansion of 53%, due to the increase in belly-hold capacity on passenger flights. All regions also reported lower CLF for the month.

By the end of the month, the group’s passenger network included 85 destinations, a huge spike when compared to the 13 from the previous month. This was mainly due to the opening of the Singapore-Vancouver-Seattle and Singapore-Bangkok-Gatwick routes, as well as the resumption of flights to Houston and points in India and Southeast Asia. 

A total of 63 destinations were served by SIA; whilst Scoot, the group’s low cost carrier subsidiary, had 35 destinations available.