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Singapore, August 1 (ANI): Tue Singapore Airlines Group (SIA), co-owner of Indian airline Vistara, last week reported its highest-ever operating profit of 556 million SGD (403 million USD) for the first quarter on “spiky passenger demand”. It’s the second-highest quarterly operating profit in the airline’s history.
That comes after it scraped into positive territory with a profit of SGD10 million (US$7.2 million) for the second half of its last fiscal year when it announced its full-year earnings in May. It reported an operating loss of SGD 620 million for the first half of the same financial year. The SIA’s financial year runs from April to March.
SIA Group reported a net profit of SGD370 million (US$268 million) for the first quarter versus a loss of SGD210 million in the last quarter of the previous fiscal year, an improvement of SGD580 million. The airline attributed this to better operating performance, up SGD 623m, and an absence of SGD 66m in non-cash impairments, partially offset by tax expense versus a SGD 95m tax credit last quarter.
Reduced proportion of associated losses companies like Vistara also improved its performance by 25 million SGD.
SIA entered the quarter ahead carefully calibrating its response to the pandemic and preparing for rising demand.
In a statement, SIA said: “Since the beginning of the pandemic, the SIA Group has proactively reviewed all aspects of our operations to ensure the entire organization is ready to respond quickly to changes in the operating environment.
Singapore Airlines and Scoot were among the first airlines to launch services and begin selling points served from Changi Airport since the start of the easing of restrictions in September 2021. Group capacity increased from an average of 47 percent of pre-pandemic levels in Q4 FY2021/22 to 61 percent in Q1 FY2022/23 to meet significant pent-up demand.”
Unlike in Europe where airlines have had to cut flights to accommodate them to travel Demand increases SIA the number of flights.
With to travel As demand picks up, the industry in general is in a situation of being unable to hire and train workers fast enough after shedding thousands of workers during the pandemic. It is also not possible to get mothballed aircraft back into service quickly enough.
In early July, British Airways said in a statement to NBC News that it would cancel 10,300 more short-haul flights by the end of October. It added: “British Airways will be canceling more flights in the crucial summer holiday months as airlines and airports get mixed up Europe Struggling to keep up with strong post-pandemic demand from holidaymakers. The entire aviation industry continues to face major challenges and we are fully focused on making our operations more resilient to give our customers the peace of mind they deserve.”
Similarly, KLM and Lufthansa also made statements to their customers that they have to cut flights to ensure reliability and service security. The reason for this is the labor shortage not only among the airlines, but also among partner service providers at airports.
Lufthansa said in its statement: “When summer starts in the northern hemisphere and with global to travel Restrictions that have now been almost completely lifted, everyone involved in air traffic around the world is coming up against the limits of the resources currently available almost every day. And the ramp-up of the complex air transport system from almost zero to now almost 90 percent is clearly not progressing with the reliability, robustness and punctuality that we would like to offer you again.”
Dutch airline KLM said: “Work pressures at the airport are unrelenting at the moment as both Schiphol and KLM face staff shortages. The measures taken by KLM are aimed at restoring operational stability and thereby relieving the pressure on the employees at Schiphol and KLM. Until August 28, we will be canceling 10 to 20 round-trip flights to European destinations every day.”
The reduction in flights in Europe and increasing demand has caused airfares to skyrocket.
A search of August flights on airline websites revealed that an economy round-trip ticket from Singapore to Munich with Lufthansa costs $1,600, while an SIA ticket from Singapore to London costs almost $3,000. These cost about $900 before COVID.
Those who were better prepared benefited from this Singapore Airlines which is busy adding flights to its network.
In its statement on the financial results, it said that SIA and low-cost subsidiary Scoot are adjusting their networks for the Northern Winter operating season (October 30, 2022 to March 25, 2023). SIA will increase connections to points across Japan, bring its Indian network back to pre-pandemic levels, add more flights to Los Angeles and Paris, and continue its direct services to Vancouver. Scoot will introduce non-stop flights to Tokyo (Narita) and Osaka, as well as add more flights to Bangkok, Cebu, Manila, Seoul and Surabaya. Group capacity is expected to increase to around 68 percent of pre-pandemic levels by September and around 76 percent by December.
Earlier this month, SIA announced that it plans to gradually bring all of its flights in India back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of October. It will gradually increase its flight frequency and operate 17 weekly connections to Chennai from the current 10 flights per week. Connections from Kochi will be increased from the current seven flights a week to up to 14 times a week. Bengaluru flights will operate up to 16 times a week, up from the current seven flights a week.
SIA expects travel demand to remain robust in the short-term and forward sales to remain buoyant over the next three months to October 2022.
However, she warned: “Inflationary pressures, including higher fuel prices, remain a concern. Interest rate hikes and slowing economic growth in many countries around the world, including SIA Group’s key markets, are risk factors for the recovery in passenger travel and air cargo demand, which we are closely monitoring.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by the staff at Business Standard; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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