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SIA Group, the parent company of Singapore Airlines, has posted record quarterly and nine-month profits for the period ended 31 December 2022, buoyed by robust demand for air travel. The group saw the highest-ever quarterly operating profit, nine-month operating profit, and net profits. The passenger load factors reached a record high on the back of strong demand across the network, while forward passenger sales showed strong momentum for Q4. However, the air freight segment was weighed down by weaker global demand and increased capacity.

The robust demand for air travel has continued into the third quarter of FY2022/23, with the group passenger capacity reaching 80% of pre-Covid-19 levels in December 2022, higher than the average of 51% for the Asia-Pacific region. SIA and Scoot carried 7.4 million passengers in the third quarter, up 17% from the second quarter, and the group carried 18.8 million passengers during the nine months that ended 31 December 2022, up nine-fold from a year earlier. Passenger load factors for the group improved by 0.8 percentage points to 87.4%, the highest for any quarter, on the back of record load factors for both SIA (87.3%) and Scoot (87.8%).

However, the cargo segment’s performance moderated compared to the previous quarter due to softening demand and an increase in belly-hold capacity as more passenger aircraft returned to service globally. Group revenue for the three months to 31 December 2022 rose by 8% quarter-on-quarter to $4.846bn, a record quarterly revenue for the group. Passenger-flown revenue increased by 14% to $3.767bn, while cargo-flown revenue fell by 14.1% to $862m.

Despite expenditure growing by $281m quarter-on-quarter to $4.091bn, the group posted an operating profit of $755m for the third quarter, up 11.4% from the previous quarter. Scoot achieved a record quarterly operating profit of $135m, up more than 11-fold from the previous quarter, while the operating profit for SIA was $48m lower quarter-on-quarter at $636m. The strong performance by both SIA and Scoot is a testament to the success of the group’s portfolio strategy, which enables it to effectively capture growth in different traffic segments by deploying the right vehicles to the right markets.

In conclusion, SIA Group has achieved record quarterly and nine-month profits for the period ended 31 December 2022, thanks to strong demand for air travel. While the cargo segment’s performance moderated, the group passenger capacity reached 80% of pre-Covid-19 levels in December 2022, and passenger load factors reached a record high. Furthermore, Scoot achieved a record quarterly operating profit, and the strong performance of both SIA and Scoot highlights the success of the group’s portfolio strategy.