Singapore Airlines shows growth in airline recovery

SINGAPORE -- The Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group saw a significant step-up in passenger demand in December 2021, on the back of a continued expansion of its Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) services and the year-end travel season. Eight cities joined the Group's VTL network during the month.

Group passenger carriage was close to 600,000 in December 2021, almost double the previous month's figure. Group passenger capacity (measured in available seat kilometres) grew 20.5% month-on-month, reaching 45% of pre-Covid-19 levels.

The Group passenger load factor (PLF) for December 2021 increased 17.4% month-on-month to 46.5% (+32.8% year-on-year).

Cargo operations registered a load factor of 78.8% in December 2021, 9.9% lower year-on-year. The 35.8% growth in loads (freight tonne- kilometres) trailed behind the capacity (capacity tonne-kilometre) expansion of 53.0%, arising from the increase in belly-hold capacity on passenger flights. All route regions recorded lower CLF during the month.

At the end of December 2021, the Group's passenger network covered 85 destinations including Singapore, up by 13 compared to the end of last month.

This was mainly due to the launch of the Singapore-Vancouver-Seattle and Singapore-Bangkok-Gatwick routes, as well as the resumption of flights to Houston (via Manchester) and several points in India and Southeast Asia.

The Singapore Airlines full-service network served 63 destinations while Scoot, SIA's low-cost carrier subsidiary, served 35 destinations as at end of December.

www.singaporeair.com (ATI).