WORLD NEWS | Singapore Airlines reports record quarterly profit, reiterates investment in Air India

Author: Li Jiahui

SINGAPORE, Feb 27 (ANI): Last week, Singapore Airlines (SIA) announced a net profit of S$628 million (US$465 million) for the third quarter ended December and a profit of S$1.555 billion for the year to date. yuan ($1.152 billion). It was the airline’s highest revenue in a quarter and the first nine months of a fiscal year.

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This is due to “strong demand for air travel continuing into the third quarter of FY2022/23, building on the momentum that started after Singapore eased border restrictions in April 2022,” the airline said in a statement. SIA Finance The year begins in April.

Earlier, Singapore announced that it would ease all remaining COVID restrictions for travelers and locals from February 13. Travelers who are not fully vaccinated against COVID will no longer need to show proof of a negative pre-departure test before entering Singapore, nor will they need to purchase travel insurance to cover COVID treatment if they become ill on the island. Those who have been vaccinated will no longer need to show proof on arrival. On the same day, masks were no longer mandatory on public transport, the last of the local COVID-era regulations.

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Singapore was one of the first Asian countries to reopen after the COVID pandemic, helping its tourism industry and its national airline. In addition to providing government grants to affected industries during COVID, the airline has also benefited from the confidence of its shareholders and financial institutions in its business as it managed to raise S$22.4 billion (US$16.6 billion) during COVID, including The S$15 billion came from shareholders (the largest of which is state investment firm Temasek Holdings) through the sale of shares and convertible bonds. It still holds a cash balance of S$15.4 billion as of December 2022.

That allows it to keep most of its staff and fleet and quickly resume routes when travel resumes. That’s unlike other regional airlines, which have had to lay off workers and sell planes to stay afloat.

SIA reported that its group traffic will reach 80% of pre-COVID levels in December 2022, above the Asia-Pacific region average of 51%. Its two main airline brands carried 7.4 million passengers in the third quarter, up 17% from the second quarter. Combined with the previous two quarters, the SIA Group served 18.8 million passengers in the first nine months of the financial year. That’s a ninefold increase from a year ago (2021), when most of the world’s borders remained closed.

Group load factor improved by 0.8 percentage points to 87.4%, the highest score for any quarter, as premium carrier SIA (87.3%) and low-cost carrier Scoot (87.8%) both recorded record load factors. ).

Singapore Airlines reported that its cargo performance slowed from the previous quarter due to weak demand and increased belly capacity as more passenger planes returned to service around the world. While yields are down sequentially, they are still elevated compared to pre-COVID levels – nearly doubling.

Overall, SIA’s revenue for the three months to December rose S$358 million (US$265 million), or 8 percent from the previous month, to S$4.846 billion (US$3.589 billion), a record high.

Passenger revenue rose 14% or S$463 million to S$3,767 million, as passenger traffic rose 12.2% in the quarter, outpacing capacity growth of 11.1%. Revenue per available seat kilometer (RASK) was 10.6 Singapore cents, the highest quarterly RASK in the Group’s history.

Cargo revenue fell 14.1% or S$141 million (US$104 million) to S$862 million (US$638 million), as lower yields fell 14.6%, partly offset by a modest 0.6% rise in cargo carried.

Expenses rose 7.4% or S$281 million (US$208 million) quarter-on-quarter to S$4,091 million (US$3,030 million). This included a S$371 million (15.5%) increase in non-fuel expenses, partially offset by a S$90 million (-6.3%) decrease in net fuel costs.

Non-fuel expenses grew faster than capacity growth, mainly due to an increase in foreign exchange losses of S$194 million (US$144 million) as a result of the 6.1% depreciation of the US dollar against the Singapore dollar at the end of the quarter. Net fuel costs fell to S$1,333 million (US$987 million), mainly due to a 13% drop in fuel prices. This was partially offset by higher volumes (+$103m) and lower fuel hedge gains (+$19m).

Key strategic moves for future growth mentioned in the quarterly financial report included a deal with Tata Sons (Tata) in November 2022 to inject another S$360 million (US$267 million) into Air India. This will give SIA a 25.1% stake in the enlarged Air India Group after it was acquired by Tata and merged with Vistara Airlines. The agreement is still subject to regulatory approval.

In a statement, SIA said, “The combined entity will be four to five times larger in size compared to Vistara, with a strong presence across all major airline segments in India. The proposed merger will strengthen SIA’s presence in India, strengthen Its multi-hub strategy and enables it to continue to participate directly in this large and fast-growing aviation market.”

“Deeper collaboration with like-minded airlines is an integral part of the SIA Group’s partnership strategy. This enables SIA and its partners to bring more traffic to their hubs, offer customers more choice, and expand Group’s global footprint,” the airline added. (Ani)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)