Summary
- The Singapore Airlines Group operated September capability at 90% of pre-pandemic levels while carrying 93% of pre-pandemic passengers.
- Connections between Singapore and China are healthy, with strong demand and yields benefiting inbound and outbound services.
- Singapore Airlines and Scoot have each seen significant increases in passenger numbers, with Singapore Airlines carrying 1.86 million and Scoot carrying 1.04 million passengers in September.
The Southeast Asia region remains to be around 20% below 2019 seat capability levels, but bucking that trend are Singapore Airlines and Scoot, which at the moment are inside touching distance of full recovery to pre-pandemic levels. Each have followed a disciplined strategy of matching demand to capability with passenger load aspects well ahead of September 2019.
A strategic approach to capability
The Singapore Airlines Group, which incorporates Singapore Airlines and its low-cost subsidiary Scoot, carried 2.9 million passengers in September, a 36% increase from last 12 months and 93% of the three.1 million passengers in September 2019. What’s impressive is how the 2 airlines have managed capability, or available seat kilometers (ASK), resulting in increased load aspects.
Photo: Airbus
In September 2019, the Group offered a capability of 14.58 million ASKs to hold 3.1 million passengers, while last month’s ASKs were 13.2 million for two.9 million passengers. The final result is that this 12 months, the Group was operating 90% of 2019 capability but carrying 93% of 2019 passengers, resulting in a rise in load factor from 84.8% to 87.7% last month. In a year-on-year comparison, the Group added 23.7% more capability in 2023 and increased passengers by 36% in comparison with September 2022.
A key factor is that connections between Singapore and China are the strongest in Southeast Asia, benefiting inbound and outbound services. Last month, Chinese airlines were offering 82% of their 2019 capability to Singapore, and each Singapore Airlines and Scoot have strategically resumed familiar routes where they know each demand and yields exist.
Singapore Airlines has also quickly added capability to and from Australia, and in September, the Group was operating greater than 140 weekly flights to eight destinations. Singapore Airlines was one in all the few carriers that kept Australian routes open in the course of the pandemic and has been a trusted carrier to Australians since 1967.
As an instance the extent of its commitment, Singapore Airlines is working 4 day by day flights to Melbourne and Sydney using a combination of Airbus A380, A350 and Boeing 777 aircraft. It operates A350s to Brisbane 21 times weekly and to Adelaide day by day, while the 787-10 Dreamliners head to Perth 21 times every week. To Northern Australia, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operates five services weekly to Darwin and Cairns.
Each airlines are doing well
On a person airline level in September, Singapore Airlines carried 1.86 million passengers, up by 27% year-on-year and Scoot 1.04 million, up by 55% year-on-year. Singapore Airlines recorded a load factor of 87.6%, with Europe the best at 93.1%, followed by the South West Pacific (92%), the Americas (89.5%), East Asia (81.4%) and West Asia and Africa (81%).
Photo: Airbus
Scoot had a slightly higher load factor of 88.1%, and by region, the Remainder of the World was the best at 98%, followed by West Asia (86.6%) and East Asia at 85%. Scoot’s single-aisle fleet comprises Airbus A320-200s, A320neos and A321neos, while its medium and long-haul routes are served with Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 Dreamliners.
At the tip of September, Singapore Airlines Group operated a passenger network of 119 destinations in 36 countries and territories. Singapore Airlines served 75, while Scoot served 67 destinations. The Group’s cargo network comprised 124 destinations in 38 countries and territories.