Published January 16, 2009

SIA passenger numbers, cargo traffic tumble

By VEN SREENIVASAN

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AS passenger numbers fell and capacity rose, Singapore Airlines filled just 79.9 per cent of its seats last month, down 4.4 percentage points from a year earlier.

Big concern: The global economic slowdown has hit airlines hard, forcing many to slash capacity and manage yields and costs more carefully

Cargo also slumped, with SIA filling just 55.2 per cent of space last month, down from 62 per cent in December 2007.

All route regions except the Southwest Pacific recorded lower passenger load factors than a year earlier, when traffic was extremely buoyant and demand outpaced a limited capacity increase, the airline said in a statement.

'The prevailing global financial turmoil has dampened demand across all route regions, translating to weaker uplifts,' it said.

'SIA will continue to monitor demand and make adjustments where necessary to match capacity to forward demand.'

Last month, the airline's systemwide passenger carriage measured in revenue passenger kilometres declined 3.5 per cent year-on- year, while capacity measured in available seat kilometres grew 1.7 per cent.

The number of passengers carried decreased 7.5 per cent from a year earlier to 1.6 million last month.

On the cargo side, a 9 per cent cut in capacity nowhere near matched a whopping 19 per cent fall in traffic measured in freight tonne kilometres.

The global economic slowdown has hit airlines hard, forcing many to slash capacity and manage yields and costs more carefully. SIA has aggressively managed capacity by pulling out of some routes and consolidating services on others.

Spokesman Stephen Forshaw said the capacity management exercise is similar to that in 2003 during the Sars outbreak. 'We are approaching this downturn broadly as we approached during the Sars downturn,' he said.

'We don't want to be flying half-empty planes around the world any longer than we have to, because it increases our cost burden at a time when we can least afford it.

'We want to make sure we match changes in capacity with the changes in demand that are occurring as a result of the economic slowdown. We will continue to make adjustments to schedules, consolidating flights where loads are light and demand is weak.'

According to the International Air Transport Association, global passenger traffic is expected to fall 3 per cent this year, while cargo traffic is expected to fall 5 per cent.