Singapore Airlines (SIA) Cargo halved its operating loss in the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year compared to Q1 last year.
For that April to June quarter, the loss was down 50 per cent to nine million Singapore dollars ($6.5 million), compared to 18 million Singapore dollars in the financial year’s Q1 of 2014/15.
SIA Cargo carried 282,000 tonnes in Q1, which was a year on year (YOY) increase of 0.4 per cent on Q1 last year, when it handled 278,500 tonnes.
Capacity saw a YOY rose in Q1 of 2.6 per cent to 2.56 billion tonne kilometres, up from 2.5 billion in Q1 last year. The cargo load factor fell YOY by 1.3 percentage points in Q1 to 61.1 per cent.
The carrier says despite lower revenue stemming from a 7.6 per cent reduction in cargo yield, this was more than offset by the fall in expenditure, mainly from lower fuel costs.
As for the future outlook of the business, SIA Cargo, explains: “Air cargo yields are unlikely to see an upturn as industry overcapacity persists. SIA Cargo will continue to manage capacity carefully, while actively pursuing opportunities in special product segments to stimulate yields.“
The Singapore Airlines Group as a whole earned an operating profit of 111 million Singapore dollars in Q1. This was 72 million higher than Q1 last year. Group revenue declined by 117 million Singapore dollars to 3.5 billion, a YOY fall of 3.2 per cent. Cargo revenue across the Group saw a decline over last year by 37 million Singapore dollars or 7.2 per cent, because of a 7.6 per cent fall in yield.
The Singapore Airlines arm made a profit of 108 million Singapore dollars in Q1, up from the 45 million profit in Q1 in the 2014/15 financial year.
