Star Alliance member Singapore Airlines Group posted a net profit of S$734 million (US$550 million) in the first three months of its financial year ending 31 March 2024, the highest quarterly performance in its history, amid robust demand for air travel through the mid-year school holidays and the start of the summer travel season.
Fleet developments
SIA added four aircraft to its operating fleet in the first quarter. These comprise one Airbus A350-900 (delivered in March 2023), two Boeing 787-10s (delivered in April 2023 and June 2023), and a Boeing 737 Max 8 (delivered in February 2022) after its cabin retrofit.
SIA Group now has 199 aircraft in its operating fleet, comprising 192 passenger aircraft and seven freighters.
SIA’s operating fleet comprises 137 passenger aircraft and seven freighters, while its low-cost carrier Scoot had 55 passenger aircraft.
Group-wide, the airlines have 99 aircraft in their orderbook.
With an average age of six years and 11 months, SIA Group operates one of the youngest and most fuel-efficient fleets in the airline industry.
Network developments
In the three months to 30 June, Scoot expanded its footprint in China with the resumption of services to seven destinations (Changsha, Haikou, Nanning, Ningbo, Shenyang, Wuhan, and Xi’an). With these additions, SIA and Scoot collectively serve 17 destinations in China, with Scoot serving 14 points and SIA serving four points.
As of 30 June, the group’s passenger network covered 116 destinations in 36 countries. SIA served 74 destinations, while Scoot served 65 destinations.
Going forward, SIA will resume four-times weekly services to Busan from 28 August.
Also, during the Northern Winter operating season (29 October 2023 to 30 March 2024), SIA will increase frequencies to Hong Kong, Japan (Fukuoka, Haneda, Nagoya, and Osaka), and Thailand (Bangkok and Phuket).
In response to the strong demand during the year-end peak travel season, SIA will operate supplementary services to Adelaide, Brisbane, Christchurch, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney from 22 November 2023.
From 31 January 2024, additional frequencies will be mounted to Frankfurt until the end of the Northern Winter operating season.
Scoot resumed flights to Jinan and Shenzhen in China in July and will serve Nanchang from August 2023. From 29 October, Scoot will inject additional frequencies to Chiang Mai, Davao, and Jeddah.
The low-cost carrier will also restructure its existing direct flights to Athens and Berlin and operate three times weekly Singapore-Athens-Berlin services during the Northern Winter season.
Subject to regulatory approvals, SIA and Scoot will restructure their Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad services from 29 October. As part of this move, SIA will offer daily morning and evening services to Bengaluru.
The SIA Group will also increase its services between Singapore and Chennai from 17-times weekly to 21-times weekly, with Scoot commencing daily operations to the city after SIA transfers some of its Chennai services to the low-cost carrier from 5 November.
In addition, SIA will progressively increase its weekly service between Singapore and Hyderabad from seven times weekly to 12-times weekly, taking over Scoot’s daily services between the two cities.
SIA says that the group’s capacity remains on track to reach an average of around 90 per cent of pre-Covid levels by March 2024.