SIA Group’s June passenger traffic rises 4.1% on robust travel demand

[SINGAPORE] A combined 3.7 million passengers flew on Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Scoot in June, up 6.3 per cent on the year.

Passenger traffic across the SIA Group also rose 4.1 per cent year on year, underpinned by robust demand for air travel, the airline group said on Wednesday (Jul 15) in a bourse filing of its operating results for June.

Passenger capacity increased 6 per cent from the prior year, resulting in a passenger load factor (PLF) of 87.1 per cent. SIA and Scoot posted monthly PLFs of 86.4 per cent and 89.5 per cent, respectively.

Cargo demand also strengthened during the month.

Cargo carriage expanded 8.5 per cent year on year. SIA Group said this was supported by shipments related to artificial intelligence and data centres, as well as the front-loading of e-commerce volumes into Europe ahead of the European Union’s small parcel duty, which took effect on Jul 1.

Overall cargo loads increased 5.1 per cent year on year despite a 2.3 per cent decline in cargo capacity. As a result, the cargo load factor rose 4.2 percentage points to 60.6 per cent.

On the network front, SIA in June launched flights to Hangzhou in mainland China and Scoot began routes to Pontianak in Indonesia.

The budget airline also resumed passenger services to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Jun 22, but suspended the route from Jul 14 following the escalation of hostilities in the Middle East.

SIA’s services to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates remain suspended.

As at end-June, the SIA Group’s passenger network comprised 137 destinations across 36 countries and territories. The full-service carrier served 78 destinations, while Scoot covered 85 destinations.

The cargo network comprised 139 destinations in 36 countries and territories as at Jun 30.

Shares of SIA closed at S$7.60 on Wednesday, down 0.3 per cent or S$0.02, before the announcement.