News
SIA Group reports US$530 million net profit
February 23rd 2018
Singapore Airlines Group (SIA Group) has posted a S$711.1 million (US$530 million) net profit for the first nine months of its 2017-2018 fiscal year, a 43% year-on-year improvement. Read More » The airline group cited increased passenger and cargo revenues for the better result.
SIA Group’s nine-month revenue totalled S$11.8 billion, up 5.7%, as expenses, particularly fuel, increased 5.6% to S$10.9 billion; its operating profit through to December 31 was up 42% to S$842.8 million.
Mainline Singapore Airlines (SIA), a legacy full-service carrier, said its operating revenue increased by S$269 million during the period, including passenger flow revenue of S$130 million, which resulted in an operating profit of S$566 million for April-December 2017, up 33% year-on-year.
The next milestone for the airline will be taking delivery of the first of 49 on-order B787-10s in March. SIA is the launch customer for the largest Dreamliner variant. It will deploy the new aircraft type on regional flights. The first scheduled SIA B787-10 routes will be Singapore-Osaka and Singapore-Perth.
SIA has said the -10 would feature “all new medium-haul cabin products for regional deployment.”
SIA Cargo also performed well over the first nine months, in line with the recovery of the cargo sector observed across the Asia-Pacific. SIA’s freight unit reported an operating profit of S$120 million during the period, a steep increase from the S$8 million reported a year ago. Cargo volumes improved 5.5%; yield 8.9%.
The only SIA Group entity that disappointed during the first nine months was regional full-service subsidiary, SilkAir. The carrier’s operating profit during the period was down 46%, to S$40 million. SIA said the slump was the result of higher fuel expenses, ground handling, aircraft maintenance and overhaul expenses, which are “a consequence of the 13% expansion in operations, which outstripped growth in revenue.”
SilkAir has added a number of new destinations during the period and taken delivery of the first three out of 37 on-order B737 MAX 8s.
SIA Group is performing significantly better than its main adversary, Cathay Pacific Airways, which is expected to post another back-to-back loss on March 14.
