SIA's passenger load factor down to 57.4% in March

Only about 10 aircrafts of its 200-strong fleet are currently in operation.

SIA Group’s passenger load factor (PLF) plunged by 24.1 percentage points (ppt) to 57.4% in March as the ongoing pandemic continues to bar passenger movements, an announcement revealed.

Its airlines recorded a 60.4% YoY decline in passenger carriage, whilst capacity cuts in March resulted in an overall reduction of 43.8% (measured in available seat kilometres) during the month.

Singapore Airlines’ passenger carriage dropped 57.2% YoY in March, against a 37.8% cut in capacity. Consequently, PLF slipped 25.3 ppt to 55.7% and fell across all route regions, with North Asia particularly affected.

SilkAir's passenger carriage plummeted 71.1% against a 58.5% cut in capacity. This led
to a 23 ppt decline in PLF to 52.4%.

Scoot’s passenger carriage also crashed 68.3% against a contraction in capacity of 61% over the same period, which led to a 16 ppt dip in PLF to 69.5%.

Out of the SIA Group’s fleet of approximately 200 aircrafts, only about 10 were in operation to serve a limited passenger network. SIA said that they may need to extend the capacity cuts if border controls and travel restrictions remain in place and travel demand continues to be low.

On the other hand, overall cargo load factor (CLF) was 5.7 ppt higher as the capacity contraction of 34.7% outpaced the 28.8% decline in cargo traffic (measured in freight tonne-kilometres).

The East Asia, Americas and South West Pacific regions registered improvements in CLF.

By end-March, SIA had announced a 96% cut in SIA and SilkAir’s combined capacity, whilst Scoot had also suspended 98% of its network, compared to their original schedules to end April.