Singapore Airlines Cargo has reduced its first half year losses to 34 million Singapore dollars ($26.3 million), while the parent airline has seen profit drop to 125.7 million Singapore dollars for the same period.

The cargo division losses were down from 71 million Singapore dollars in the first half of 2013. The amount of cargo carried fell to 555,600 tonnes in the first half of 2014, down from 557,300 tonnes January to June last year.

Capacity was cut by 3.8 per cent to five billion tonne kilometres, down from 5.2 billion tonne kilometres in the first half of 2013. The load factor then rose by 0.2 percentage points to 62.2 per cent.

The airline says: “Airfreight demand has seen a moderate recovery in recent months, with demand projected to be stronger in the third quarter as a result of the traditional peak period in the lead up to Christmas.” It says overcapacity continues to remain an issue.The airline has seen revenue drop from 7.7 billion Singapore dollars in the first half of 2013 to 7.6 billion Singapore dollars in the same period in 2014. 

Group profit was 125.7 million Singapore dollars in the first half of 2014, compared to 282.4 million Singapore dollars during the same time in 2013. Second quarter profit was 90.9 million Singapore dollars in 2014; it was 160.6 million Singapore dollars in 2013. It says part of these losses were due to the exchange rate between the Singapore dollar and the US dollar, Australian dollar and Japanese yen.

Singapore Airlines Cargo operates eight Boeing 747-400 Freighters. On 29 July it suspended services to Lagos (Nigeria) and in September it added services to Amsterdam, Brussels and Delhi to cater for seasonal demand. Singapore Airlines took delivery of two Airbus A330-300 in the second quarter of 2014, bringing its fleet of A330-300 to 29. It has a fleet of 105 aircraft, 57 Boeing 777, 29 Airbus 330-300 and 19 Airbus A380-800.