Spring Airlines reporting PBT exceeding industry average, pax growth and LFs also exceed average

Spring Airlines CEO Zhang Xiuzhi, speaking at CAPA's World Aviation Summit in Hong Kong, stated (28-Nov-2012) Spring Airlines' profit before tax has been above the industry average for the last four consecutive years including a profit before tax of USD3.9 million compared to the industry average of USD2.3 million in 2011. Spring's passenger numbers have been growing at an average rate of 44.4% p/a from 180,000 in 2005 to an estimated 10.3 million so far in 2012. The carrier's fleet has been growing at an average rate of 46.5% p/a from two aircraft in 2005 to 33 aircraft at present. The carrier also reports average load factor of 94% at present, compared to China's national average of 81% and aircraft utilisation of 11.4 hours, compared to the national average of 9.3 hours. Spring Airlines cost per ASK in 2011 was USD5.12 cents, compared to peers average of USD7.19 cents. The carrier is increasingly looking to new technology to drive down costs even further. From a sales perspective, the carrier stated B2C channels will always be the priority. In the last few months, Spring have launched new Thai and Korean version sites. Meanwhile, the carrier said due to the development of China's high-speed rail the carrier no longer considers 800-100km sectors but is now considering long-haul routes. This will see Spring's average sector length to be similar to Chinese full service carriers in the future. [more - CAPA Analysis]