SIA's September cargo load factor improves on reduced capacity

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) continues to report strong cargo load factor for September as capacity contraction outpaced decline in cargo traffic.

The flag carrier, in its monthly operating results filed with the Singapore Exchange, said that September's cargo load factor improved 29.5 percentage points year-on-year to 89 per cent.

This was due to the contraction of 59.4 per cent in capacity year-on-year, which was greater than the 39.3 per cent decline in cargo traffic, measured in freight tonne-kilometres.

SIA also noted all route regions recorded year-on-year increases in cargo load factor in September.

Group passenger capacity, by contrast, has remained weak. Measured in available seat kilometres, the metric was down 90.8 per cent year-on-year. Overall passenger carriage, which is measured in revenue passenger-kilometres, declined by 98.1 per cent. This resulted in group passenger load factor to fall 67.8 percentage points year-on-year to 17.2 per cent.

Passenger load factor is an indicator that measures the percentage of available seating capacity that is filled with passengers. It is a percentage that reflects how effective an airline is at earning revenue.

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While demand for travel languished, SIA said the efforts of the government to gradually reopen borders have helped to bolster the carrier's ongoing recovery from the pandemic.

SIA continues to rebuild its network, re-instating services by the flagship airline and SilkAir to Brunei, Fukuoka, Kathmandu and Male, as well as increasing the frequency of selected flights in their passenger network in October, November and December 2020.

The counter closed flat at S$3.49 on Thursday.