NATIONAL carrier Singapore Airlines on Friday (Nov 8) reported net profit of S$290 million for the second quarter ended Sep 30, sliding 59 per cent from S$707 million in the corresponding year-ago period.
This is despite revenue for the period adding 2 per cent to S$4.8 billion, from S$4.7 billion a year ago.
The lower profit was mainly due to weaker operating performance, lower net interest income and loss on disposal of aircraft, spares, and spare engines versus a gain last year. However, it was partially offset by higher share of associated companies’ profits and lower tax expense.
The group has declared an interim dividend of S$0.10 per share, payable on Dec 11.
On a half-yearly basis, net profit came in at S$742 million, sliding 48.5 per cent from S$1.4 billion in the corresponding year-ago period.
This translates to a H1 earnings per share of S$0.229, compared to S$0.312.
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Revenue for the half was S$9.5 billion, up 3.7 per cent from S$9.2 billion a year ago.
The group noted that demand for air travel remained healthy in the first six months of FY2025, with Singapore Airlines and its budget arm Scoot carrying 19.2 million passengers, a 10.8 per cent year-on-year increase.
However, passenger traffic growth of 7.9 per cent trailed the SIA Group’s passenger capacity expansion of 11 per cent, resulting in a 2.4 percentage point decline in group passenger load factor to 86.4 per cent.
The passenger load factor measures how much the airline’s passenger capacity has been utilised. It is calculated by dividing the airline’s revenue passenger kilometres by its available seat kilometres.
SIA and Scoot achieved passenger load factors of 85.7 per cent and 88.6 per cent respectively.
The group expects demand for air travel is expected to be robust in the second half of the financial year, but the operating landscape “will continue to be competitive”.
“Heading into the year-end peak, air freight demand is expected to stay healthy,” said SIA.
Shares of SIA ended at S$6.45, down S$0.04 or 0.6 per cent, before the announcement.
