SIA Group reports 3.3% growth in third-quarter operating profit to $629 million

SIA Group reported a 3.3% increase in third-quarter operating profit, reaching $629 million for the three months ending 31 December 2024, compared to the same period last year. The growth was driven by strong demand for air travel and robust cargo performance, despite rising competition and cost pressures.

The Group’s revenue hit a record $5,219 million, marking a 2.7% increase ($137 million) from the previous year. Passenger flown revenue rose by $70 million (+1.7%), with SIA and Scoot carrying 10.2 million passengers, a 7.2% increase year-on-year. However, the passenger load factor declined by 1.0 percentage point to 87.2%, as capacity expansion (+8.5%) outpaced traffic growth (+7.2%). Increased industry capacity also impacted yields, which fell 4.5% to 10.7 cents per revenue passenger-kilometre.

Cargo operations saw a 9.7% growth in flown revenue ($54 million), with loads increasing 14.6% year-on-year, supported by strong e-commerce demand, higher freighter charters, and perishables traffic. Cargo capacity expanded 12.8%, and the cargo load factor improved by 0.9 percentage points to 56.4%, though yields declined 4.5%.

Group expenditure rose $117 million (+2.6%) to $4,590 million, primarily due to a $258 million (+8.6%) increase in non-fuel costs, partially offset by a $142 million (-9.8%) decline in net fuel costs. Effective cost management kept non-fuel cost growth below the overall capacity expansion of 10.1%, despite inflationary pressures. Net fuel costs benefited from a 20.9% drop in fuel prices (-$359 million), though this was offset by higher fuel volume uplifted (+$162 million) and a $98 million swing from a hedging gain to a loss.

As a result, SIA Group’s net profit surged by 146.7% ($967 million) to $1,626 million, largely driven by a $1,098 million non-cash accounting gain from the merger of Vistara with Air India in November 2024.

April-December 2024 Performance

For the nine months ending 31 December 2024, the Group’s revenue reached a record $14,716 million, up 3.3% ($472 million) from the previous year, led by passenger flown revenue (+$189 million, +1.6%) and cargo flown revenue (+$96 million, +5.9%). Passenger yields declined 6.4%, while cargo yields fell 10.2% due to increased competition.

Operating expenditure rose $1,210 million (+10.0%), aligning with the 10.5% capacity expansion. Net fuel costs increased by $305 million (+8.2%), driven by higher fuel volume uplifted (+$437 million) and a reduction in fuel hedging gains (+$274 million), partially offset by an 8.1% decline in fuel prices (-$367 million).

Consequently, operating profit dropped 34.1% ($738 million) to $1,425 million. Despite this, the Group’s net profit rose 12.8% ($268 million), primarily due to the accounting gain from the Vistara-Air India merger.

Third Quarter FY2024/25 – Profit and Loss

                              The Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group’s financial performance for the third quarter of FY2024/25 is summarised as follows: