Singapore Airlines’ traffic may have hit bottom, but load factors still falling

Singapore Airlines (SIA) reported a 13.2% reduction in RPKs in Jul-2009 - an improvement on the 20%+ falls reported in Mar-2009 and May-2009 - suggesting volumes may have indeed bottomed. But the airline warns that the ongoing global economic slowdown continues to impact travel demand, reflected by its load factor, which eased 1.3 ppts to 79.7% despite significant promotional efforts. SIA's load factors have now fallen in each of the past 12 months.