December 1st 2021

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May

Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group said this month the past year had been the toughest in its 74-year history as the pandemic rendered international travel almost non-existent and punched a hole in passenger revenue. Read More »

The Singapore flag carrier reported an annual net loss of S$4.3 billion (US$3.2 billion) for the 12 months to March 31, a deterioration from a net loss of S$169.4 million a year earlier.

SIA said international air travel remained severely constrained and the recovery trajectory was still unclear.

Medium-haul LCC, AirAsia X, slumped to an eighth consecutive quarterly loss and said in a regulatory filing to the country’s stock exchange it would not be able to restart scheduled flights until travel restrictions eased. In the meantime, it was working on a turnaround effort that involved negotiating with creditors, reducing shares on issue by 90% and shrinking its route network.

Sister carrier, AirAsia Group, also reported a quarterly loss this month, with co-founder and CEO, Tony Fernandes, noting sufficient liquidity was the key priority to support the recovery of the carrier.

But May was not all bad news. Korean Air (KAL) said its net loss for the three months to March 31 narrowed to 28.8 billion won (US$25 million) from a net loss of 692 billion won in the same quarter in 2020. Additionally, the company said it was in the black at operating level for a fourth consecutive quarter.

While passenger demand was still low, KAL said its cargo business was performing well, with sales more than doubling in the reported period.

Asiana Airlines, which is proceeding through acquisition by KAL, reported a net loss of 230.4 billion won (US$204 million) for the three months to March 31, an improvement over a net loss of 549 billion won a year ago. Revenue was lower by 30.6%.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Tourism Economics published research that showed it would be 2023 before passenger numbers would be returned to pre-COVID-19 levels.

Japanese carriers, Air Do and Solaseed Air, announced plans to merge. The pair said the transaction would support efforts to quickly recover the damaged financial base of both companies, survive the new business environment, provide more value to customers and achieve sustainable growth. ANA HOLDINGS INC., the parent company of All Nippon Airways, has equity in both airlines.

In India, GoAir said it would rebrand as GoFirst and operate an “ultra LCC business model”, with owner, Wadia Group, releasing an initial public offering (IPO) prospectus intended to raise as much as 26 billion rupees (US$490 million).