The Singapore Airlines (SIA) group on Tuesday (May 16) reported a record annual profit of S$2.16 billion (US$1.63 billion), reversing three straight years of losses.
The company had booked a S$962 million net loss the previous year.
Strong demand for air travel drove revenue, operating profit, and passenger load factor, said SIA.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the group said it had retained most of its staff and kept a large proportion of its aircraft fleet operational at low utilisation levels.
This allowed its two airlines, SIA and Scoot, to ramp up operations on short notice when air travel surged in FY2022/23, it added.
“Working collaboratively with key members of Singapore’s aviation ecosystem, both carriers were among the first to launch flights as borders reopened, and captured the pent-up demand as air travel returned,” said SIA.
According to SIA Group’s latest operating results, group passenger capacity reached 79 percent of pre-COVID-19 levels at the end of March.
SIA and Scoot carried a total of 26.5 million passengers, six times more than the year before.
The passenger load factor also increased by 55.3 percentage points to 85.4 percent – the highest in the company’s history.
SIA’s board recommended a final dividend of 28 cents per share for FY2022/23. Including the interim dividend of 10 cents per share paid on Dec 22, 2022, the total dividend for FY2022/23 will be 38 cents per share.
OUTLOOK
SIA said it would monitor the demand for air travel and adjust its capacity accordingly, noting that demand remains robust in the first quarter of FY2023/24, underpinned by the recovery in air travel in East Asia.
“Forward sales remain healthy across all cabin classes, led by a strong pick up in bookings to China, Japan, and South Korea.”
But it warned that geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties, as well as high-cost inflation, could pose challenges for the airline industry in the months ahead.
At the end of March, the Group had 195 aircraft in its operating fleet comprising 188 passenger aircraft and seven freighters, said SIA.
