NEW YORK, January 16, 2018 – The operating results for December 2017 are given in the table below.

In December 2017, SIA Group airlines' passenger load factor (PLF) improved 1.8 percentage points to 84.7%. Passenger carriage (measured in revenue passenger kilometres) increased 5.1% compared to last year, outpacing capacity (measured in available seat kilometres) injection of 2.9%.

Singapore Airlines' PLF improved 2.0 percentage points to 84.4%. Passenger carriage increased 3.1% compared to last year, against a 0.7% increase in capacity. PLF for all route regions improved due to stronger passenger demand during the year-end peak. The operating landscape remains challenging, with efforts focused on balancing yields against loads, amidst competitive pressures.

SilkAir’s systemwide passenger carriage grew 12.2% year-on-year, surpassing capacity growth of 10.5%. Consequently, PLF improved by 1.1 percentage points to 76.6%, led by growth in demand in China and Southeast Asia. During the month, SilkAir took delivery of its third 737 Max 8 aircraft.

Scoot recorded passenger carriage growth of 10.2%, exceeding capacity expansion of 9.0%. Consequently, PLF went up by 1.0 percentage points to 88.7%, boosted by improvements in all route regions. PLF on selected routes to India, China, Australia, and fifth freedom routes to North Asia continued to improve. During the month, Scoot commenced its second long-haul service to Honolulu (via Osaka), as well as direct services to Harbin. The second of the 12 A320 aircraft which were subleased to IndiGo was returned to Scoot, bringing the narrow-body fleet to 25 aircraft.

Overall cargo load factor (CLF) was 1.9 percentage points higher, with growth in cargo traffic (measured in freight-tonne-kilometres) of 4.3% against capacity increase of 1.5%. CLF improved across all regions, except Americas, as demand outpaced capacity changes.