Summary Singapore Airlines Group saw 6.7% passenger growth in July, with ASK capacity outpacing RPKs. Scoot was quick to gain demand in the Asia-Pacific region, contributing to a strong recovery for the Group.
Cargo demand is on the rise due to robust e-commerce demand and sea freight disruptions. As the peak summer holiday season draws to a close, airlines are reviewing their networks and schedules as they start to think about the coming winter and 2025 summer seasons. As it has done for at least the last two years, the Singapore Airlines Group is strategically managing the capacity-demand equation and maintaining healthy load factors while adding capacity.
More growth in July In July, the Singapore Airlines Group, which includes Singapore Airlines and low-cost carrier Scoot, carried a total of 3.23 million passengers, a 6.7% gain year-on-year (YoY) and 98% of the 3.
30 million it carried in July 2019. The Group increased available seat kilometers (ASK) by 8.7% YoY, and with revenue passenger kilometers growing by only 3.
6%, the passenger load factor fell by 4.2 percentage points YoY. On Sunday, Adelaide Airport and Singapore Airlines will celebrate a 40-year partnership that started with a Boeing 747 Jumbo jet.
The Singapore Airlines Group has clearly recovered from the operational impacts of the global pandemic, although the general overcapacity that is creeping into the market is starting to affect passenger loads throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The Group released its July Operating Results on Friday and commented on that by saying: "SIA experienced lower load factors for [the] East Asia route region notwithstanding robust growth in passenger traffic, due to the substantial capacity expansion in North Asia." Low-cost carrier Scoot has set the pace over the last year by making significant gains quickly when border restrictions started easing across the region.
Scoot took advantage of the available demand within the Asia-Pacific region, while Singapore Airlines had to deal with the extended restrictions in key markets, particularly in China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. Now SIA is surging The balance shifted in July, with Singapore Airlines (SIA) recording a 10.5% YoY increase in passengers carried, while Scoot carried almost the identical number of passengers as in July 2023.
Compared to July 2023, SIA increased ASK capacity by 11.8% while RPK demand increased by 6.5%, and that imbalance reduced the passenger load factor by 2.
6 percentage points. Singapore's competition regulator has approved the strategic partnership between Singapore Airlines and Garuda Indonesia. Last month, Scoot carried 1.
08 million passengers at a load factor of 88.9%. Scoot decreased ASKs YoY by 1.
5% while RPK demand fell by 5.6%, resulting in a decline of 3.8 percentage points from 92.
7% to 88.9%. Looking at the load factor by region, Scoot reported load factors of 91.
4% for the Rest of the World, 88.4% for East Asia and 86.8% for West Asia.
SIA reports load factors by five regions, and those combined reported a July load factor of 84.7%. The load factor in the Americas was the highest (90.
1%), and in the South West Pacific, which includes Australia, it was 90.0%. Those two were followed by Europe (88.
1%), West Asia and Africa (81.5%) and East Asia (76.9%).
After months of being in the doldrums, Cargo is making a comeback, and in July, the Group increased loads by 18.5% compared to July last year. The Group said this was due to robust e-commerce demand and some demand spillover from sea freight disruptions and port congestion.
This outpaced capacity expansion of 8.2% and increased the cargo load factor to 57.4%, a 5.
0 percentage point gain YoY..
