SIA passenger load factor up 1.9 ppt to 82.7% in April

Its passenger carriage of 8.6% beat capacity injection at 4.3%.

SIA Group airlines' passenger load factor (PLF) in April 2018 improved 1.9 ppt to 82.7%. According to its operating results, passenger carriage increased 6.8% compared to last year, outpacing capacity injection of 4.3%.

PLF measures a transport provider's capacity to fill its seats and create revenue from fares.

Singapore Airlines' PLF improved 1.7ppt to 82.5%. Passenger carriage increased 3.6% compared to last year, against a 1.4% increase in capacity.

"PLF improved for all route regions, except South West Pacific which was affected by the shift in Easter travel demand from April 2017 to March 2018. Efforts to stabilise yields continue despite intense competition in key markets," SIA said.

SilkAir’s systemwide passenger carriage increased by 19.6%, ahead of capacity growth of 11.3%. Consequently, PLF increased 5.2ppt to 75.7%.

"Strong growth in demand exceeded capacity injections across North Asia and West Asia," the airlines commented.

Meanwhile, Scoot recorded passenger carriage growth of 15.3%, exceeding capacity expansion of 13.4%. As a result, PLF rose by 1.4ppt to 86.1%. PLF on all route regions improved as demand outpaced changes in capacity.

"Selected routes to India, South East Asia, Australia, and fifth freedom routes to North Asia continued to improve," SIA said.

Overall cargo load factor (CLF) was 3ppt lower, with cargo traffic declining 0.4% against capacity growth of 4.4%. CLF declined across all route regions, except West Asia and Africa, as demand did not keep pace with capacity changes.