Singapore Airlines Sep-05 overall load factor up just 0.3% to 67.9%
SINGAPORE (XFNews) - Singapore Airlines (SIA) said its overall load factor rose marginally to 67.9 pct in September from 67.6 pct a year before as the continued weakness in its cargo load factor offset growth in passenger load factor.
Passenger load factor rose to 76.5 pct in September from 73.3 pct a year earlier, while cargo load factor dipped to 62.4 pct in September from 64.2 pct a year earlier.
"Passenger load factors for most regions improved over the same month last year, except for Southwest Pacific region, which registered a slight decline, mainly due to recent capacity increases introduced to the regions not yet being fully absorbed by the market," SIA said.
"Americas and East Asia regions demonstrated strong growth due to the higher demand for the non-stop Singapore-US services and the Southeast Asia services respectively," it said.
The airline carried 9.3 pct more passengers in September than it did a year before, it said.
SIA said the decline in cargo load factor was due to softer demand and increased cargo capacity, arising largely from increased bellyhold capacities in the Southwest Pacific and introduction of new freighter services in Nagoya and Johannesburg.
"Cargo load factor slipped as a result of softer system-wide demand. In Southwest Pacific, unpredictable weather conditions resulted in delays of seasonal perishables freight from Australia this year."