Singapore Air reports biggest-ever loss

Singapore Airlines posted its biggest ever quarterly loss as the coronavirus decimated travel demand and fuel hedging and fleet impairment charges weighed on its bottom line. The carrier reported a net loss of S$2.3b ($1.7b) for the three months ended Sept. 30 versus a S$94.5m profit the same period a year ago, before Covid-19 spread around the world. Revenue plunged 81% to S$783.8m, the carrier said in an exchange filing Friday. Singapore Airlines is cutting about 20% of its workforce and has raised S$11b in funds through a rights offering and loans in a bid to survive the downturn. The IATA forecasts passenger demand may not return to pre-Covid levels before 2024. The situation is particularly dire for carriers like Singapore Airlines that have no domestic market to fall back on. “The recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to remain patchy, given the new waves of infections around the world and concerns about imported cases,” Singapore Airlines said. “Nonetheless there are early signs of optimism. Customers are slowly becoming more confident about air travel, given the robust health and safety measures that have been put in place by airlines, airports and governments.” The company implemented a second three-year transformation program in October as it tries to revive its business amid the devastating outbreak. Underscoring the long and difficult road to recovery, Singapore Airlines expects to only be back to around 16% of regular capacity by the end of January next year. It has restarted some routes, including its non-stop service to New York, and plans to gradually reinstate flights to places such as Brunei, Kathmandu and Male.<br/>