SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) posted a net profit of S$85 million in the third quarter on Thursday (Feb 24), helped by a strong cargo market and an improvement in passenger numbers as Singapore eased some of its border restrictions.
The airline reported its first profitable quarter since December 2019, before the pandemic hit. The profit for the three months ended Dec 31 came in versus a loss of S$142 million in the year-ago period that was boosted by a tax credit.
Revenue rose to S$2.32 billion from S$1.07 billion in the prior year.
SIA Group said in a news release that the third-quarter performance came amid a “significant step-up” in air travel to and through Singapore in the October to December 2021 period, as well as continued robust demand and strong yields in the cargo market.
“Singapore’s launch of Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) arrangements and its subsequent expansion, as well as the Group’s nimble response that resulted in it being the first to open sales on almost all available routes, helped unlock pent-up demand during the year-end travel season,” it added.
SIA Group carried 1.1 million passengers during the quarter, more than five times the number from a year before and double that of the second quarter of FY2021/22.
Passenger capacity, measured in available seat-kilometres, grew 183.8 per cent year-on-year, as SIA Group ramped up flights in response to the VTLs.
By the end of the quarter, group passenger capacity reached 45 per cent of pre-COVID-19 levels, it said.
The Group recorded an operating profit of S$76 million for the three months ended December 2021, versus a S$331 million loss from the year before.
As international air travel “progressive recovered” over the course of the year, SIA Group said its operating loss for the nine months to December 2021 narrowed by S$1.65 billion, or 75.3 per cent year-on-year, to S$543 million.
Revenue grew S$2.44 billion from significant passengers and cargo flown revenue improvements, said the Group.
Passenger flown revenue rose S$1.25 billion on the back of a recovery in passenger traffic while cargo flown revenue rose S$1.24 billion, driven by higher loads carried and yields.
“As a result of the stronger performance for the third quarter, the Group recorded an operating cash surplus of S$322 million for the first nine months of the year.
“This reversed the operating cash burn that it had been experiencing since the start of the pandemic,” it said.