What’s up with SIA’s ever-growing capacity?

Latest passenger load factor at 79.6%, as capacity once again outgrows carriage.

Singapore Airlines announced:

In December 2011, Singapore Airlines recorded 1.8% year-on-year growth in systemwide passenger carriage (measured in revenue passenger kilometres) while capacity (measured in available seat kilometres) grew by 3.2%.

As a result, passenger load factor (PLF) declined 1.1 percentage points to 79.6%. The number of passengers carried increased by 1.3% over the same period the previous year.

All regions except Americas registered lower PLFs over the same month the year earlier. East Asia PLF declined as capacity increases outpaced the growth in passenger carriage. In addition, the flood situation in Thailand continued to affect demand. The improvement in Americas region's PLF was a result of strong year-end travel demand.