Singapore Airlines reports flat load factor for May - increasing capacity matches traffic

Singapore: Singapore Airlines (SIA) said Monday its overall load factor came in flat at 66.2 per cent for the month of May, as compared to 66.5 per cent for the same month last year. It said rise in passenger and cargo capacity matched the growth in traffic.

According to the airline, passenger traffic grew at an annual pace of 9.0 per cent in May, even as  passenger capacity increased 9.2 per cent. This caused SIA's passenger load factor to dip by 0.1 percentage point to 74.7 per cent in May, it said.

Cargo capacity grew 4.2 per cent, outpacing the 3.4 per cent growth in cargo traffic, the airline said. Load factor, accordingly, dipped 0.4 percentage point to 60.7 per cent.

"The year-on-year increase in capacity follows the delivery of a number of new aircraft in the last twelve months, resulting in the injection of additional frequencies to Europe, Southwest Pacific, East Asia, the Americas, West Asia and Africa," SIA said.

"The deployment of the larger A380 on the London and Sydney routes, as well as Tokyo routes in the latter period of May, also contributed to the capacity increase," it added.

Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines has achieved load factors of 95% on its A380 services to London Heathrow, according to airline sources. According to SIA officials, the four A380 super jumbos, currently in service, are averaging load factors of nearly 80%.

Airline officials said the novelty of flying aboard the new jumbo aircraft has contributed to their popularity. The airline launched A380 flights to Tokyo Narita only last month and is scheduled to take delivery of its fifth A380 before July.

The airline was the launch customer for the super jumbo.